Tag Archives: into action. Treatment center

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Treatement plan:get psychic change!

Pretty agressive treatment plan would you say???

We dont think so,because unless you treat undelying issues which a caused by irrational thinking and umpualsive behavior,unless you go to the answers to where were we selfish,disohest,selfseeking and frgihtened no refelctions can really be made.Only after being able to differentiate the truth from the false and becoming objective you can change.And change is a deinfitely new reality with no obsession and desire when you can walk a free man without avoiding people,places and things !

 

 

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More work ahead

You only get one opportunity to sit down with your clients and get up close and personal enough to ask them questions relating to where they are in their life. The series of breakthroughs we want for them create waves in our own lives; I experience this every day. We have just concluded two weeks of treatment and most of our clients have sponsors and are working the steps. My role is to push them to persevere in writing a thorough fearless moral inventory and give them a swift kick to stay on it. Motivational interviewing is good for a short while, like an Anthony Robbins event. You get psyched and are on top of the world, but unless you move forward with action, the excitement evaporates. That is what happens most of the time.

Here at Into Action Treatment, we consider ourselves to be that gym where you jump in and lift weights, not walk in to shoot the breeze!

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What its all about

Today I want to get into the intrinsic motivators for addicts to change and what happens when it occurs. Obviously anything life threatening should make someone stop drinking or using one might think, however in most cases it does not. I believe there are series of exterior and interior factors that influence the decision making.

Number one is the time it takes for the addict to experiment and see that it is futile, unfortunately it is very hard to shoot heroin daily and be a vibrant socialite at the same time for long periods of time. We see more and more people that turn to the realization that they want to stop but don’t know how. Another thing is honesty, most addicts and alcoholics can not own up to the fact that they have a problem and the ones that do, are not willing to do what it takes to fix it. The question comes as to how do we motivate or push someone to the realization and then get them to make the efforts towards a vital breakthrough. It may start with an altruistic helping hand and a story of a similar experience or it can be seeing other people that took drastic steps and were led by clear cut directions and have actually become better. It takes time, perseverance, work and writing of the fourth step.

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Prescription use slide to heroin or not??

 

The grim reality behind the numbers in the state drug report

February 2, 2012

By Joseph Lee

Joseph Lee, M.D., is a child and adolescent psychiatrist and medical director for Hazelden’s Youth Continuum.

On Monday the state released its biannual report on drug-use trends in Minnesota, showing a spike in the use of opiates and synthetic drugs. The public may be unaware of the hidden relationships between these trends and why they are so disturbing. Allow me to share some of my observations. Since I work with teenagers and young adults, I have their interests at heart as I interpret these statistics.

The report states that in 2000, heroin users accounted for 3.3 percent of treatment admissions in the Twin Cities, while other opiate users accounted for a mere 1.4 percent. In 2011, those figures jumped to 10 percent for heroin and 9.3 percent for other opiates. This dramatic increase mirrors statistics from other states, further validating its grim reality. Once we look under the hood, the statistics suggest a few other things.

First, and most obvious, they suggest an increase in opiate users across the Twin Cities. Those addicted to opiates are more likely to have greater treatment needs or fail lower levels of care. This is supported by data across the country that show an increasing number of opiate users ending up in residential treatment, a placement usually indicated for more severe cases. The statistics call for an open-minded examination of the merits of current treatments for opiate users.

Many people think of heroin addiction as a problem in more troubled areas of the city, far away from the comforts of their neighborhoods. The frightening reality, however, is that our problem with heroin is really an aftermath of our prescription drug epidemic, which afflicts our loved ones right at home. A great majority of prescription drug abusers obtain their drugs from family or friends; that alone should catch the attention of anyone who dismisses the state’s report as far removed and irrelevant.

I have treated thousands of young people from across the country, and I can name only a handful of them who jumped to heroin before first trying oxycodone or any number of other prescribed opiates. I am not suggesting that prescription opiates are a gateway drug. I do not subscribe to the gateway theory from a neurobiological perspective. But I do believe that when young people try strawberry ice cream, they might be more willing to try vanilla ice cream, especially if strawberry is less available and if vanilla costs far less. Furthermore, even young addicts well versed in other drugs frown on heroin use. They don’t progress to heroin use due to an affinity; they go there out of desperation and availability. If we can curb prescription drug abuse, we have a chance at curbing our cities’ reputation for heroin use.

Recently, the American Society of Addiction Medicine released a new policy statement for prescription drug abuse, part of which emphasizes mandatory training for prescribers about addiction and diversion. The wisdom is that no provider should offer treatment or care if he cannot at least recognize the downside of that treatment. Some prescribers may perceive this as intrusive, since mental health and addiction are not their realms of expertise. I would suggest that we physicians have been a part of the problem for far too long. We have a moral and ethical duty to change, even while recognizing that plenty of greater systematic failures perpetuate the problem.

There are hidden factors behind the synthetic drug surge as well. By now, most of us have heard of synthetic cannabis, synthetic stimulants(bath salts), and synthetic hallucinogens (2CE, 2CI, etc). Less well known are the kinds of cultural and demographic shifts that create the trends.

I run into basically three kinds of young people who use synthetic drugs:

The first group comprises kids who are experimenting. Unfortunately, given wide ranges in potency, amateur chemistry and everything in between, it doesn’t take frequent use to cause alarming problems. I have treated many young people who are virtually indistinguishable for months at a time from those with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or dementia as a result of synthetic drug use. These young people may not even be addicted, but they are drawn to the novelty and the accessibility.

The second group of users favors discretion. Due to legal issues such as probation, drug screens at work, or even athletics, they use chemicals that cannot be detected with standard drug screens.

The last group of users speaks to an emerging cultural phenomenon. Over the past few years, a growing number of youths identify as chemical wise men. They receive significant social validation from peers for their “expertise” in chemicals. They pride themselves in minutiae about various chemicals and they get props for serving dangerous advice to others on how to abuse them. It’s one thing to read about a drug and all of its complexity on Erowid. It is another to see the side effects in person and know what to do, and yet another to feel responsible when a good friend has a tragic consequence as a result of bad advice.

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Does it have to get worse to get better??

The summit Wednesday at the University of Kentucky on prescription drug abuse and addiction captured the severity and extent of an appalling problem.

Buttressed by shocking statistics — such as that more than 1,000 Kentuckians lose their lives to prescription drug abuse each year, more than in the state’s traffic accidents — and heartbreaking personal stories of the tragic toll of addiction, officials appropriately stressed the urgency of stronger reaction.

Gov. Steve Beshear said the state’s drug problem is “literally killing our people” and appropriately pledged that the issue would be a top priority that must receive a united, aggressive and rapid response.

The Governor said he is working with state Attorney General Jack Conway and House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, on a wide-ranging bill to be introduced soon in the General Assembly. Mr. Conway expects the bill to require some doctors and other prescribers to use the state’s KASPER monitoring system system and to mandate KASPER checks before certain medications are prescribed to patients in emergency rooms.

There is also progress in reducing the flood of drugs from pain clinics in Florida, after the Sunshine State finally tightened its lax regulation of unscrupulous medical centers and doctors. The Florida measures strengthened penalties on rogue doctors who over-prescribe painkillers and beefed up rules for prescriptions and pain treatments.

Rigorous law enforcement and severe penalties for pill-pushing physicians, including permanent loss of medical licenses and potential jail time, are certainly an important part of the drug-fighting equation — in Kentucky, Florida and elsewhere. Indeed, police and court actions have been stepped up, including a Jan. 25 raid on a Paintsville pain clinic that resulted in 29 arrests. A former doctor at the clinic was arrested last year in an earlier raid and pleaded guilty in December to a federal charge of conspiring to illegally prescribe about 50,000 tablets of Percocet, a highly addictive narcotic pain-reliever.

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However, from Prohibition forward, arrests and prosecutions have never succeeded by themselves in stamping out drug problems, and it would be futile now to rely solely on enforcement crackdowns. Floyd County Commonwealth’s Attorney Brent Turner estimated that at least 5,000 of his county’s 40,000 residents are involved in prescription pill trafficking in some way. Statewide, such numbers would overwhelm police departments and corrections systems.

The strategy must also incorporate sophisticated education and treatment efforts.

Such approaches — which are already tried in some areas — need to be expanded into comprehensive programs across the state to teach parents, families, educators and employers how to identify signs of drug abuse, and how to intervene effectively. Public service messages could debunk harmful myths — such as that an addict must “hit bottom” before help is possible, or that a failed recovery effort means that it’s pointless to try again, or that treatment must be voluntary to succeed. Judges around the state should be able to follow the model of Jefferson County’s drug courts and sentence users directly to treatment programs instead of jails.

Meanwhile, Kentucky’s federal representatives should be pushing hard for more effective national monitoring of drug production and distribution. There is no justification for manufacturing quantities of painkillers far in excess of legitimate need.

Such a broad undertaking will cost money, but funds must be found even in austere times to confront what Gov. Beshear rightly called “a corrosive evil.”

 This was published in the http://www.courier-journal.com/ which is pretty informative.
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More on OXY war here

In Brevard County, oxycodone killed 243 people from 2006 to 2010, according to Brevard County Medical Examiner’s Office records. The drug was responsible for 77 deaths in 2010, the last year in which complete data has been compiled. That’s triple the death toll from 2006, when 24 deaths were attributed to the painkiller. Moreover, records show oxycodone was present in the bodies of hundreds more people who died, though it was not listed as the primary cause of their deaths.

Lead medical examiner’s investigator Craig Engelson said that when he goes out on a call to investigate a death not involving a shooting, stabbing or vehicle crash, prescription painkillers like oxycodone — also known by the brand name OxyContin — often are involved.

“You can almost guess when you go to the scene” that oxycodone was a factor, he said.

Oxycodone is a valuable drug when used properly, medical experts say, offering relief to people with chronic pain who aren’t helped by other medicines.

But when abused, it grips addicts in a vise they say is almost impossible to loosen. And the drug’s hold causes a cascade of other problems across the community.

Oxycodone is linked to countless crimes, authorities say, as addicts try to steal the pills directly from pharmacies or turn to theft to get money to buy the drug on the black market.

The problem cuts across all social and economic strata, experts say. In Brevard, senior citizens have died of overdoses, as well as those not old enough to legally buy a beer. Among those who have been hooked by the drug are high school dropouts and successful professionals. Last year, a surveillance tape showed a West Melbourne police officer swiping pain pills from the department’s evidence locker.

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“There is no boundary where it is not there. It’s everywhere,” said Brevard County Sheriff’s Lt. Alex Herrera, who heads the Sheriff’s Office Cape Canaveral Precinct, and has been in the homicide and the Special Investigations Unit that specializes in narcotics cases. “We’re not talking about a plant that is grown in Colombia. It’s so readily available that it is tough to get a grip on. It’s a main focus of the Special Investigations Unit. You can go into any high-income or low-income community, and have addicts or sellers live there. This has really become an epidemic.”

Crime connections

Herrera said law enforcement agencies can do special sweeps aimed at the prescription drug trade, but still not shut down sales entirely.

“It’s like gremlins. You can’t get rid of them,” Herrera said, which is why police agencies have included prescription medications to the list of drug dangers they try to educate school kids about.

The economics of oxycodone makes it attractive for drug dealers. A prescription retails at a pharmacy for the equivalent a few dollars per pill. But the pills can be sold on the street for up to $80 apiece, depending on dosage in the pill, Herrera said.

Even at half that much, “The profit is immense,” Herrera said. “When you can take a pill bottle, and turn the 80 pills to $500, it’s alluring.”

Typically, Herrera said, someone with a real or fake X-ray of an injury walks into several disreputable pain-management clinics that have become prevalent across Florida. The person pays a fee for the office visit in cash, gets prescriptions for oxycodone or similar pain drugs, and picks up the medicine at pharmacies.

Risk of death

Sometimes, a legitimate injury leads to addiction.

“It starts out innocently enough, as they hurt their back, and got a prescription for a pain medication,” Engelson said. “And they wind up here” on the autopsy table at the medical examiner’s office.

He said 95 percent of the oxycodone deaths he sees are accidental, rather than intentional overdoses resulting in suicide.

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Engelson said many painkiller abusers find that to get the same impact or euphoria, “They have to take more and more and more, crushing and snorting it,” rather than swallowing it. Some also inject the drug like heroin.

“It’s a quicker, faster high,” Lt. Herrera said.

Brevard County Health Department Director Dr. Heidar Heshmati said, when prescribed and used properly, oxycodone “is an excellent medication for pain. There are so many patients that have chronic pain.”

The problem, he said, is when the drug is abused, particular in combination with other drugs such as an anti-anxiety drug like Xanax and a muscle relaxer like Soma, or in combination with alcohol.

“The body cannot tolerate the combination,” Heshmati said.

Unfair portrayal

Paul Sloan, president of the Florida Society of Pain Management Providers, said he believes pain doctors are being unfairly portrayed by those looking to restrict the sale and use of legitimate medicines.

Sloan said oxycodone is “a very strong medication that can have serious consequences if not taken as prescribed.” He said the 99 percent of people who properly take the drug should not be punished by restricted availability because of the 1 percent who abuse it.

“This is now a war on legitimate pain patients, and it’s just nuts,” Sloan said.

Sloan, whose Venice, Fla.-based organization represents about 100 pain management practices in Florida, said he supports new state regulations providing more oversight of pain clincs.

He believes the new rules helped shut down many so-called “pill mills” that were improperly prescribing pain medications to patients who didn’t need them. He said there were roughly 50 “big players” in Florida, mainly in big cities, abusing the system.

“It’s wrong to use your script pad to make money,” Sloan said.

Sloan also has issues with data from medical examiner’s offices in Florida showing a dramatic rise in oxycodone deaths. Sloan said “everybody has a different standard” in determining cause of death, and the presence of oxycodene in a deceased person does not necessarily mean that was a contributing factor.

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“I think the medical examiners are misleading the public,” Sloan said. “I think this is bogus and junk science. This has become a true witch hunt.”

‘Oxy comes first’ from FloridaToday.com shortened:

Sims, who has been a registered nurse in various capacities for 15 years, doesn’t believe oxycodone should be prescribed at all. Her kids got hooked after one son was prescribed oxycodone because of injuries from a car crash. He shared the pills with his brother and sister.

Sims hopes to prompt a crusade to outlaw the drug after seeing what it’s done to her children and their friends.

Over the years, her children stole cash from her to buy drugs. They’ve taken computers, DVD players, furniture and jewelry from her, selling the stuff for drug money or trading it for drugs. Once, she had to go to a drug dealer’s home to buy back her own laptop. The children used life insurance payouts after their father died to finance their drug habits, and her son hurt in the car crash spent much of that insurance settlement to buy pills.

“The drugs mean more than eating or anything to them,” Sims said. “The drugs just twist their brain so badly. The oxy comes first and everything else comes afterward.”

All three have long criminal records, Sims said.

“My three kids all told me they don’t want this life,” Sims said. “They try and they try and they try” to kick the habit, “but they fail every time.”

A few months ago, Sims got a tattoo on her right calf. “Each day’s a gift, not a given right.” The phrase alludes to the fleeting time she and her children could have together.