CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM DEPRESSANTS
When you think of drugs that people use recreationally, you might imagine that they’re mostly the sort of thing that make you happy and energetic. If you’re using to have fun or because you’re trying to self-medicate away your problems, it makes sense that you’d want something to make you peppy. It might sound strange, […]
PREVENTING OPIOID ABUSE
For years now, we’ve been unable to turn on the news or read a newspaper without seeing headlines about the opioid crisis. It seems like there’s always a new drug trend or a new lawsuit or a new piece of legislation, to the point where we’re almost desensitized to it all if we aren’t personally […]
INSURANCE COMPANIES REFUSE TO COVER OXYCONTIN
Purdue Pharma, the company that makes the opioid painkiller OxyContin, is increasingly under fire for its role in the opioid crisis. More than half of the 33,000 opioid-related deaths in 2015 were attributed to prescription opioids such as OxyContin. There are currently dozens of lawsuits in progress, accusing Purdue of downplaying the addictiveness of the […]
IBOGAINE
Many drugs that are currently classified as controlled or illegal have long histories of medicinal use. Marijuana is the one most people are aware of, because of its use to treat glaucoma and reduce pain. More recently, a hallucinogenic drug called ibogaine, which has historically been used in healing ceremonies in West Africa, has been investigated […]
ABUSE-DETERRENT DRUGS
Most of us are aware by now of the origins of the opioid epidemic – if nothing else, because of all the ongoing lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies. In the 1990s, the drug manufacturers marketed opioids aggressively, making what turned out to be patently false claims about their safety and low potential for abuse, pushing them […]
WHAT IS REHAB REALLY LIKE
We are all afraid of the unknown. When we don’t truly know something, then most people tend to believe the worst about it. This is no different than what most people believe about entering into a recovery and rehabilitation facility. People tell stories about what they have heard, but rarely are these stories an accurate […]
GABAPENTIN
Opioids are dangerous enough when you procure them directly from a pharmacy, but recently people have been mixing them with or taking them at the same time as other medications in an attempt to get a better high. Fentanyl, for example, is an opioid that is frequently mixed with heroin, cocaine, meth, and other drugs. […]
OVERDOSE SIGNS AND TREATMENT
Whether intentional or accidental, overdoses occur when a person consumes more drugs or alcohol than the body can metabolize, leading to harmful side effects. Young children and elderly people are especially at risk, as are those with an underlying mental illness. Some general signs of an overdose are irregular vital signs (such as pulse, temperature […]
ADDICTION TREATMENT FACILITIES AND THEIR EFFECT ON NEIGHBORHOODS
“Not in my backyard.” That phrase has been used for decades by people wanting to keep so-called undesirables out of their neighborhoods. As times change, so too do the objects of distaste – African Americans, foreigners, those in the LGBT community, etc. One perhaps unexpected target is addiction treatment facilities. People speak about them as […]
IS ADDICTION A SIN?
The majority of people have come around to the idea of addiction as a disease, or at the very least something that is not entirely a choice. There are genetic factors, environmental factors, mental health issues, childhood traumas – all kinds of things can combine to make an addict. For some, however, addiction is a […]
