Posts Tagged ‘michael jackson drug abuse’

The Problem with Pills

Friday, September 11th, 2009

After reading a couple of articles, one from the New York Daily News focusing on prescription sleep medication and another from Salon Magazine talking about the new book “This is Your Country on Drugs,” it was obvious that we needed to address the growing pill problem in America. We’ve talked before about pain killer addiction on the blog, especially addressing Michael Jackson and DJ AM’s recent passings. What we haven’t addressed is the problem in households across the country- that some of the most dangerous drugs in our world are kept in our medicine cabinets, accessible by even the most innocent children. This is a particularly hard problem to combat, as most of the drugs are prescribed legally.

Recently, a survey of 1,300 school nurses participated in a survey conducted by the National Association of School Nurses showed that an amazing 78 percent cited prescription drug abuse as a growing problem. According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, more than 2.1 MILLION teens abused prescription drugs in the past year- a startling figure. When we look at access to these drugs, it seems that it’s becoming easier for our kids to get their hands on these pills. We need to do something about it- be sure to talk to kids about the dangers of these pills- they can be deadly on even their first use. And just because they’ve been legally prescribed, it doesn’t make them any less dangerous OR addictive. As we just saw with DJ AM, even being prescribed pain medication for a reason can lead to addiction, and even death.

If you or your family member is struggling with a pill addiction, be sure to contact us today at 877-320-0247. We will be there to walk you through the process of getting help. For more information on prescription drug addiction, be sure to click on our main site and call us for additional information. We’re here to help.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, hazelden, intervention, Legalization of Drugs, michael jackson drug abuse, prescription pill addiction, vicodin addiction
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Intervention through the years

Wednesday, August 19th, 2009

A New York Times article brought up by AiR staff member Dave Kelly talks about different intervention approaches and how an intervention could have saved Michael Jackson. There were a couple of pretty good points in this article, namely around denial when dealing with addiction: “Denial is at the core of addiction, and breaking through it, many experts say, can require extreme measures, particularly with celebrities, who can procure an endless supply of drugs and are cocooned by people with an interest in keeping the star’s earnings flowing.”  According to sources close to the Jackson family, there were multiple attempts made by Jackson’s family at an intervention. So the question remains- why aren’t Jackson’s employees, who held his family at bay, held liable for his death? They obviously knew of Jackson’s drug use; in fact, according to sources close to Jackson, they would often pick up his multiple prescriptions. Maybe we need to develop laws that, instead of forcing drug addicts into jail, create accountability for employers and employees who refuse to confront an addict.

Kurt Cobain, the former front man of Nirvana, is also mentioned in the article when talking about harm reduction- a controversial method of “managing” or cutting down ones drinking or using. Cobain apparently asked to do this around his heroin use, and was instead escorted to treatment, of his own choice. A doctor from Seattle talks about harm reduction and motivational interviewing as a method to help addicts “slow down” their using.

The problem with motivational interviewing- and harm reduction- is that by the time an intervention is needed to help a loved one, they are usually too far along to simply “slow down.” Harm reduction creates a pocket that allows addicts to make excuses when they slip up or go on a binge. Via intervention, we at Assistance In Recovery can create a healthy family system surrounding the addicted loved one, regardless of whether or not they choose to get help.

In the end, getting help for an addiction is a choice. But via intervention, we can make that choice easier for your loved one. Intervention, in the end, is the most caring thing you can do for a loved one- and one of the hardest. Make your choice.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, assistance in recovery, cnn, drugs, intervention, michael jackson, michael jackson drug abuse, michael jackson intervention, pain killers, recovery assistance, substance abuse
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AiR's Andrew Wainwright on CNN's American Morning

Friday, July 3rd, 2009

Suspicions about Michael Jackson’s prescription drug use and sudden death are also putting a new focus on a serious and growing problem, and that is the misuse of prescription drugs in this country. It is now actually the second leading cause of accidental death. This is prescription drug overdoses after auto accidents.

Aired July 3rd, 2009 at 7:10am EST

Andrew Wainwright kicked his addiction more than a decade ago and created an organization to help others do the same. And he joins me this morning.

Andrew, thanks for being with us.

ANDREW WAINWRIGHT, PRESIDENT & CEO, ASSISTANCE IN RECOVERY, INC.: Thanks, good morning.

CHETRY: So you’ve been clean for 12 years now. You know firsthand how hard it can be to battle an addiction to drugs. Tell us your story.

WAINWRIGHT: I was a — I grew up on the east coast in Washington, D.C. and struggled with drugs and alcohol through college. I got sober when I was 26 and sober for 12 years.

And you know, white collar background. Wasn’t expecting to grow up and be a drug and alcohol addict. But these are the kinds of things that happened. I think they were genetically predisposed, and that’s exactly what happened to me. And I think that the rise of prescription drug abuse is beating right into that.

I think that people believe that an addict looks a certain way, and that’s not exactly true at all. I think that lots of folks are — addiction is accessible to lots more folks. I believe it can happen.

CHETRY: Right. And the danger that we’re learning about with prescription drugs is I mean when used as they’re supposed to be, they can be safe and they’re fine. But because they’re prescribed by a doctor, oftentimes people don’t believe it’s a problem.

And this was an interesting stat here that approximately 50 million Americans reported or at admitted to non-medical use of a prescription drug at some point in their lifetime. How big of a problem is it when you’re taking medicine that you’re not necessarily prescribed to treat something that you have?

WAINWRIGHT: I think it’s a tremendous problem and growing. I think that the perception is there’s less stigma, less shame, as it were, taking prescription drugs for off-label uses. Somehow that’s OK. And I think that decidedly (ph) it’s OK because it was given to me by a doctor. Things from doctors are supposed to be good. It’s supposed to make things better, not worse.

And I think there’s a lot of surprise when folks get sick or strung out or addicted from these same meds that are supposed to make them better. And I think that more and more — I think we sort of co- signed it a little bit as a society that since it comes from a doctor that it should be OK. And so, since friends or family tell me that this is why have a prescription for this it should be all right and we think that it is OK. And then we’re surprised when it turns out that folks get very, very ill.

CHETRY: Right. And you know deaths caused by overdosing on prescription painkillers, drugs like oxycodone or methadone, fentanyl, they jumped more than 90 percent just between the years of 1999 to 2002. This is according to stats cited by “The Washington Post.” Why are we seeing this jump?

WAINWRIGHT: Well, a couple of reasons. I think the big reason we’re going to put our finger on it is in 1996, when OxyContin first hit the market, we saw drug companies actively marketing their drugs, both the doctors and the consumers. And I think that big marketing push or big advertising campaign nationally told people to buy these drugs, to ask their doctors for them and gave doctor’s permission to prescribe them in larger numbers to more people for more different types of syndromes. Therefore, the use escalated.

CHETRY: And the question is, you talk about how it’s easy to get your hands on it. Doctor shopping in some cases, the ease at which you can get one of these prescriptions for painkillers or anxiety conditions. And when you truly have pain and you truly have anxiety, it’s understandable that you would want to be able to take something for that.

But why does it seem that it’s easier to get your hands on medications like this when you don’t necessarily have a condition that warrants it?

WAINWRIGHT: Well, one of the things we can point to is this. It’s that with the rising managed care at the end of the ’80s, at the end of the ’90s, we step away from everyone having a primary doctor who had a long history with an individual, also have understood what they’ve been through, where they’re going, and how to treat them.

As we became sort of individually taking orders (INAUDIBLE) for the medical records, moving through the ’90s and to the 2000s, we’re seeing more rise of people going to more different doctors for more different things and the doctors with less time and less capability to follow up and to know where those patients are coming from and what they’re being treated for. Doctor shopping, the ease with which people are able to visit multiple doctors for the same ostensible real condition…

CHETRY: Right.

WAINWRIGHT: … and get medicines from all of those different doctors.

CHETRY: Do you think that a national registry could make possibly make a difference where you have to report all the stuff and every doctor would have access to it? Is that something that is in the works any time soon?

WAINWRIGHT: Well, the Bush administration talked about it. The Obama administration certainly talked about it. And it’s something we’d love to see. The unfortunate piece is it’s many years down the road to get everybody onboard so in effect you’re walking around with a piece of paper or a chip, electronic record to tell you exactly who you are, what type of blood type you have, all of the things that you need and all the things that you’re taking.

So in terms of short term, it’s not something we’re going to see anytime soon. So I think we need to look at more immediate short-term solutions to the problem that’s in front of us.

CHETRY: All right. Well, it’s certainly is a growing problem. And so we need to try to find those answers.

Andrew Wainwright, president and CEO of Assistance in Recovery. You also wrote the book “It’s Not Okay to Be a Cannibal” joining us from Minneapolis, MN this morning. Thanks so much.

WAINWRIGHT: Thank you.

_______

Trascript taken from CNN.com

Tags: american morning, andrew wainwright, assistance in recovery, cnn, michael jackson drug abuse, prescription drug abuse
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