Posts Tagged ‘substance abuse’

Heroin in the suburbs

Wednesday, November 4th, 2009

A great article in the Washington Post was published yesterday talking about heroin hitting home in Centreville, Virginia. The death of a 19-year-old girl, Alicia Lannes, from a heroin overdose, shone a light on a heroin ring centering around teens and young adults, and many were current or former students of the local high school. Many of the students were high performing- athletes, cheerleaders, and AP students were all a part of the ring. 16 of those young people were convicted on drug charges, from 30 days to 26 years in prison.

This article showed a good perspective from the parents’ point of view, of someone who had lost a loved one to the disease of addiciton. Alicia, the girl whose death is the center of the article, had previous problems with drinking and drugs prior to the overdose. And why did this happen in such a seemingly “ideal” community? Edythe London, a neuroscientist and pharmacologist at UCLA who is at the forefront of addiction study: “Heroin is an equal-opportunity substance.” Patrick McConnell, director of Alcohol and Drug Services in Fairfax County, says many families are reluctant to believe their children have a problem. “These parents, a lot of times, will believe their kid before they believe us,” he says. “We can say whatever we want to say, but if no one’s going to listen, there are some fairly severe consequences that can result from that.”

Our CEO, Andrew Wainwright (who grew up in Washington DC) had this to say: “Sadly, this is the America I know and am all too familiar with. This is the America of the families that call us every day. This is the America of my own drug use. This is also the America of my recovery. I was the kids in that story as an active heroin addict on the streets of Washington DC and Baltimore. Now I am the 13 years sober and the CEO of the nation’s leading crisis addiction company. My only job today at AiR is to make sure that someone is there to answer the phone when the next mother calls ““ just like someone was there to answer it when my mother did.”

This morning, a blog posting in the New York Times touched on the response from a parent. Here’s a quote from Lisa Belkin, the article’s author: “As a parent of two teen sons, I am haunted by tales like these; I look at the photos of grieving parents and wonder what flimsy lines separate me from them. When I first had children I was sometimes overwhelmed by everything there was to do. As they get older I am ever more aware of what I can’t do “” the stark fact that, however much we love, and teach and stay vigilant, it might not be enough.”

For help for yourself or your loved one, please visit www.a-i-r.com or call us directly at 877-320-0247;

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, andrew wainwright, heroin, heroin addiction, intervention, Legalization of Drugs, prescription drug abuse, substance abuse, Treatment, virginia drug abuse
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Addiction in the news

Thursday, October 29th, 2009

A few of newsworthy items came across our desks over the last couple of weeks. First and foremost, Andre Agassi, a former professional tennis player ranked number one in the world for a few years, admitted in his new autobiography “Open” that during 1997, one of his worst professional seasons, he was using crystal meth. A shocking revelation, as Agassi did test positive for drugs during that season, but was cleared based on his denial and “accidental dosage.” Rick Reilly of ESPN wrote an interesting piece about this revelation, talking specifically about how unhappy Agassi had been until that point, eventually leading him into drugs. He did pull himself out of the addiction- and more about that will be revealed- in 1998, and continued to have one of the most successful careers in professional tennis. As Reilly puts it, “They call Agassi the greatest returner in history. They aren’t kidding.”

In other news, Sioux Falls, SD recently put together a program with local businesses to bring recovery and education around addiction into the workplace. The group behind the initiative, Face It! Sioux Falls, is an advocacy group hoping to remove barriers to recovery. A group of 13 local businesses have agreed to do work with Face It. “We commend these employers for showing remarkable leadership in their commitment to actively encourage and support the journey of recovery for their employees and their families,” said Matt Walz, CEO of Face It! Sioux Falls. This is a huge step in the right direction from a community organization standpoint, putting recovery resources directly in the hands of people who need it.

In some local news, a man in Proctor, MN, was recently arrested for a DWI- at the helm of a motorized La-Z-Boy. The man arrested blew a 0.29, nearly FOUR TIMES the legal limit in Minnesota. The man proceeded to crash his La-Z-Boy into a Dodge Intrepid parked outside. The officers on the scene reported that the man’s driver’s license had been revoked because of a previous drunken-driving conviction. We can only hope he is getting the help that he needs.

If you or someone you know is struggling with addiction, please call us 24/7 at 877-320-0247.

Tags: addiction, addiction genes, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcoholism, andre agassi, Face It! Sioux Falls, lawnchair DUI, methamphetam, methamphetamine, pain addiction, recovery assistance, substance abuse
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Worldwide Heroin Problems Growing

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

Looks like CNN has been reading our blog! A post of theirs last night talked about treating heroin addicts with heroin, something we wrote about almost a month ago. Glad to see a large media source picking up on the news, and making it a topic of discussion.

A headlining article on the CNN website today spoke about the United Nations’ concerns with the ever-growing Afghan heroin trade. According to the article, Afghan opium is responsible for over 100,000 deaths across the globe per year, which is easily more than any other drug. The heroin trade also kills, as stated by UN figures, nearly five times as many people in NATO countries than total casualties of war in the eight-year Afghan conflict. The Taliban forces have been using a local “heroin tax” to raise money for their endeavors, and 15 million or so heroin addicts around the world are a sad part of this $65 billion trade.

Antonio Maria Costa, head of the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime, has said the solution to this problem is very clear. “We need a much greater effort and commitment by governments to prevent drug addiction, to take care of drug addicts … to reduce demand.” Basically, when we provide treatment to heroin addicts, and the treatment is successful, we’re going to be able to decrease demand. However, Ethan Nadelmann, founding executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, had this to say about the UN study: “It’s very good at describing a problem. But it truly is devoid of any kind of pragmatic solution, and it essentially suggests that the answer is to keep doing more of what’s failed us in the past.”

Both are valid points- we need an overhaul of drug policy both in our country and abroad. The best way to do this is innovative treatment options and improving the quality of care that we, in the treatment field, provide. With better rates of success, and better treatment available, we’ll be able to gradually decrease demand- and if not decrease demand, at least provide better solutions to the people who are still struggling. Our Recovery Assistance Program is exactly that. Designed to help families and addicts better manage their early recovery, we’ve provided a step in the right direction to help improve treatment outcomes. We will continue to move forward in providing more comprehensive solutions for families and addicts; our best hope is providing the best help.

In other news, please be sure to check out our addiction education series, put on in conjunction with Hazelden. Find out more details here or call us directly at 877-320-0247.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, alcoholism, heroin, heroin addiction, mental health, mental illness, recovery assistance, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
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The Genetic Link to Addiction

Wednesday, October 21st, 2009

An article on CNNMoney.com today spoke about the genetic link to addiction. Although widely acknowledged throughout the addiction treatment community, it’s nice to see additional research showing the link between addiction and genetics. According to Dr. David Goldman, the director of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, said that according to the massive study they completed of addiction in twins, addiction ranks “among the most heritable of mental illnesses.”

Dr. Goldman also said that social cues and environment obviously contribute to addiction, a valid point. Someone with the “alcoholic gene” who is never exposed to alcohol may never lead themselves down a destructive path. After all, genetics load the gun, and environment pulls the trigger.

“What’s interesting,” Goldman says, “is that the more addictive the substance, the stronger the role of heredity in causing an addiction to it.” Therefore, if someone is using crack cocaine or opiates and has the genetic predisposition towards addiction, the greater the chance of getting hooked. Other environmental things, such as abuse or other instances of trauma, can severely influence the nature of addiction.

Dr. David Oslin, a psychiatrist at the University of Pennsylvania, had this to say about the study, “It reinforces for the patients that they are not just a bad person or lack will power. It resonates with the notion that their brain may work a little differently than other people’s and that this really is an illness they can treat like any other.”

As a family member or a loved one, be sure to be aware of the genetic triggers in your family- if a parent struggles with alcoholism, be sure to be aware of your genetic history and approach your drinking carefully. After all, there’s only so much one can do after addiction has taken hold.

Be sure to check out our new Wikipedia page, located here.

For any questions or help with yourself or a loved one, call us directly at 877-320-0247.

Tags: addiction, addiction genes, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, alcoholism, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, cnn, genetics, gentetics of addiction, intervention, recovery, recovery assistance, substance abuse
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Recovery Assistance, and why it works

Thursday, October 8th, 2009

As was just announced yesterday, we at Assistance in Recovery recently celebrated our 500th Recovery Assistance Program (or RAP) participant. This is a huge step forward in the recovery world; after 60-plus years of people seeking treatment for alcohol and drug addiction, we’ve finally seen a change in how addiction in the long term is being managed. When people first started attending residential treatment centers, they generally would enter a 28 or 30 day program, followed by either outpatient or simply 12-step groups. Nowadays, with the expanding of extended care and sober living homes, we’ve been able to drastically improve the levels of care for clients in need of long term treatment.

But what happens when a client gets out of the safe haven of a treatment center? Besides themselves, and potentially their 12-step groups, there has been very little accountability. We at AiR have developed an amazing solution to this through our Recovery Assistance Program. With clients and families getting an individual case manager who can help the recovering person stay on track, it takes away the need for a family to be the “sober police.” A client can communicate directly with their case manager, ideally providing a safe person for both the family and the recovering individual to speak with when troubles arise. With an intensive collateral contact, featuring connections and support with therapists, psychiatrists, outpatient services, sober living homes and 12 step sponsors, as well as toxicology screenings, we are able to provide a recovering person with that level of accountability, and success, that they wouldn’t get just returning home.

Our goal is to improve treatment outcomes; with the introduction of Recovery Assistance, we’ve been able to see rates of recovery around 84%…a truly amazing figure. We can help guide families through that treacherous time of trying to find resources for their loved one, and help the recovering individual get through the minefield that is early recovery. 500 people have come through our doors so far; with millions of other addicts out there, we can only hope for the number to increase, and seeing more and more people achieve long-term recovery.

For questions about our Recovery Assistance Program, or any of our additional services (including intervention), please call us directly at 877-320-0247.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcohol, alcoholism, assistance in recovery, intervention, pain addiction, prescription drug abuse, Recovery Assistance Program, substance abuse, Treatment
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Overdose News

Thursday, October 1st, 2009

According to an article posted yesterday night on USA Today, prescription drugs and other pills are now the leading cause of overdosing, ahead of things like heroin and cocaine. According to the Center For Disease Control, prescription pills now account for the majority of the over 26,000 fatal overdoses each year. In previous years, up through the 1990s, the majority of overdoses were brought on by illicit substances like heroin. However, with the upswing in prescriptions and the lack of knowledge surrounding the abuse of these pills, the dangers have continued to increase and, as a result, created a dangerous epidemic of abuse and addiction.

Leonard Paulozzi, a researcher at the Center for Disease Control, said that the numbers show that overdoses in rural areas have now come to equal those in cities, which is lead, according to Paulozzi, by the availability of prescription pain killers and opioids.  With chronic pain become a new term, the prescriptions of opioid pain killers have started to increase, and therefore leading to additional overdose danger. And with a rise in stress and depression, the dangers of addictive behaviors are brought to the forefront.

“At the high doses used by drug abusers, the margin of safety is small,” Paulozzi said. “Combining such drugs on your own or using them with alcohol increase the risk.” The number of overdose deaths due to prescription drugs, like morphine or codeine, has more than tripled since 1999, according the new CDC figures. “The biggest and fastest-growing part of America’s drug problem is prescription drug abuse,” says Robert DuPont,  former White House drug czar and former director of NIDA.

We’ve been speaking out on the dangers of prescription drugs for years, and will continue to do so until the appropriate levels of education and awareness of the dangers are reached. Here’s a clip of our CEO, Andrew Wainwright, on CNN’s American Morning talking about the dangers of prescription drugs.

For assistance with prescription drug problems, or if a loved one is struggling with addiction, please visit our main site or call us directly at 877-320-0247.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, andrew wainwright, chemical dependency, cnn, cnn american morning, intervention, overdose, prescription drug abuse, prescription drug overdose, recovery assistance, substance abuse, Treatment, vicodin addiction
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Heroin for Heroin Addicts?

Monday, September 28th, 2009

An interesting post in Time Magazine today touched on a new British trial, over the last four years, of providing free daily heroin injections as a method to wean them off the drugs. Since the results of the trial were positive (i.e. lower street drug use, lower crime rate among participates, etc.), officials are talking about making this a permanent addition of state-funded heroin clinics for the drug addicts in the U.K.

A quote from John Strang, one of the researchers with the National Addiction Centre (who helped lead the project): “It’s a less than perfect treatment, but for entrenched addicts, it gives them the first steps toward getting their life together. Some make a virtually complete recovery, but others, we get them from a bad place to a less bad place.” According to the research, those treated with heroin had better results than those treated with methadone. However, Paul Hayes, head of the National Treatment Agency, stressed in the Guardian this month that the services would be available to only a  “very small proportion” of the nearly 200,000 heroin addicts in treatment.

So, government, if this works so well, why is it only available to a very small population? Shouldn’t this be the course of treatment for everyone? Obviously not. By giving drug addicts more drugs, aren’t we simply condoning and encouraging their habit? Why not fund a comprehensive, state-funded detoxification program followed by residential treatment? And harm reduction, in the long run is, in the words of our CEO Andrew Wainwright, simply a “band-aid on a bullet wound.” With addiction being a disease, and a malady of the physical, social and spiritual, simply medicating the addict’s “need” for the drug will not create a long term solution. We need to be moving people into comprehensive treatment, not helping them sustain their addiction.

For more information on heroin addiction and getting your loved one help, please call us at 877-320-0247.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, air, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcoholism, andrew wainwright, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, drugs, heroin, heroin addiction, intervention, legal heroin, Legalization of Drugs, mental health, substance abuse, Treatment
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Legalization?

Friday, September 18th, 2009

As we’ve talked about before on the blog, some of the most dangerous substances of abuse are already legal- pain medication, alcohol and cigarettes are in the mainstream and on the rise. As a matter of fact, a recent study in the British medical journal Lancet stated that one in 25 deaths around the world is now alcohol-related- making alcohol just as dangerous as tobacco was ten years ago. These numbers are dangerous, and that’s talking about LEGAL substances!

Now what about marijuana? There has been a lot of controversy lately about drug policy, and it’s been all over the news. Colorado has decriminalized marijuana possessionof under an ounce to now a petty crime, or a ticketable offense. In California and other states, marijuana has been deemed a valuable medical resource, and now with Mexico decriminalizing the possession of small amounts of even harder drugs (such as cocaine and heroin), it seems as though it’s only a matter of time before this becomes a huge issue in the US. As we know, there has already been talk about California legalizing marijuana and taxing it to try and rescue themselves from a crippling budget deficit (although that idea has been shot down as of now).

We at AiR are from the stance that keeping drugs illegal prevents widespread abuse- easier access will create more problems, not less. However, as it’s obvious to us, the current U.S. structure of the “War on Drugs” isn’t working either. Our CEO, Andrew Wainwright, talked about this on CNN a few months ago. We need complete policy reform on this subject- basically, without an overhaul, we’ll be seeing an unnecessary amount of drug addicts go to prison and not get the help that they need, creating a cycle of addiction and imprisonment- none of which is good for our society as a whole. With reforms, we can create a route that pushes drug addicts into treatment and drug pushers into jail- the way the war should be fought. The addicts on the street, currently penned up in prisons and NOT getting help, aren’t the real problem here. By providing a viable solution for those addicts, we can help the drug market get smaller.

For more information about this topic, or for help for you or a loved one, please contact us at 877-320-0247.

Tags: addiction, andrew wainwright, assistance in recovery, california drug policy, chemical dependency, intervention, Legalization of Drugs, marijuana, marijuana legalization, pain addiction, pain killers, substance abuse
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Turbulent Economic Times Don't Slow Expansion

Monday, August 31st, 2009

With the news today of Caron Foundation’s expansion into Dallas (an adult residential program) , we continue to see treatment centers continuing their growth process. Caron will add 40 beds in a facility outside of Dallas to their programs both in Pennsylvania and Florida. Last week, it was announced that Hazelden, one of the nation’s leading treatment centers, would be opening a new residential program in Naples, FL. With an additional 48 beds adding to their over 200 now, Hazelden will have a facility in each region, including Springbrook in Oregon, Hazelden Center For Youth And Families and Hazelden Center City in Minnesota, and the new Florida program. As we can see, during times of economic distress, there are more and more people needing, and seeking, help for their drug or alcohol problems.

In times of an economic downturn, more and more families are affected by alcoholism and drug abuse. We here at Assistance In Recovery have seen an upswing in families in crisis- and we’re here to help. Even in the economic downturn, there are many resources available via insurance and scholarships to help addicts who are in trouble. The biggest piece here is that, regardless of a family’s current economic status, there IS help available. As we’ve said before, the WORST thing a family can do is wait it out. Hoping someone gets better isn’t effective; taking action, providing resources, and being proactive is the way to get a loved one out of trouble. Waiting for an addict to get better is like waiting for a sinking ship to patch itself- it’s just not going to happen without outside help. We can be your lifeboat.

With the help of programs like Caron Foundation and Hazelden, we’ve been able to create plans of action for families around the world. Contact us at 877-320-0247 for help today.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, air, AiR Assistance in recovery, alcoholism, caron, caron foundation, chemical dependency, drug treatment expansion, hazelden, intervention, substance abuse, Treatment
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Grace After Fire and AiR

Tuesday, August 25th, 2009

One of the great things we at AiR get to do is work with struggling families to help them find the right direction; however, we also get to work in avenues that can truly help a very selective population, our veterans. We have partnered with Grace After Fire, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing addiction treatment and trauma treatment for women veterans. With more and more women in the military reporting instances of severe mental and emotional trauma, even more resources are needed- especially ones not currently available via government resources. With a long and detailed history of Vietnam veterans suffering large instances of trauma, one would think we’d be better prepared for our returning soldiers. Alas, that is not the case. However, Grace After Fire is there to help bridge the gap in resources, and we’re excited to be a part of their cause.

One of the founding board members, Tia Christopher, provided a great testimony at the Veteran’s Affairs Committee meeting, and a video can be seen here. Women veterans can also find resources and help via their community message board, available here.

Issac Skelton, the publications director for the Drug Policy Alliance, puts our veterans’ addiction and trauma problem into focus in this editorial in the New York Times. The main point that he focuses on is this, that “…thousands of returning veterans who cope through self-medication are risking addiction, arrest and jail time.” He wrote this in response to another New York Times article that spoke directly about the problem of returning veterans and healthcare- that the Walter Reed Hospital and its neglected outpatient programs weren’t the main problem- they were only a symptom of a broken system.  We need the resources available to provide the best care possible for our returning heroes.

We strongly encourage any family to get help, but we especially want to put resources in the hands of families of veterans. Should you, or someone you love, be struggling with their transition back into the civilian world, please call us at 877-320-0247 for assistance. With the help of organizations such as Grace After Fire, we can help put a healing hand out for the veterans that really need us.

Tags: addiction, addiction intervention, AiR Assistance in recovery, assistance in recovery, chemical dependency, Grace After Fire, intervention, prescription drug abuse, recovery, recovery assistance, substance abuse, trauma and addiction, Treatment, veterans, veterans and trauma
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