How Drug Abuse Treatment Program Can Be Helpful?

Drug abuse kills. Somewhere in the back of our minds all of us understand that this is true, at least to a certain extent. The majority of the population however doesn't understand how harmful drugs truly are and how often they could be lethal. Well, for the non-believers out there, drugs are officially responsible for more deaths in the USA than motor vehicle accidents. In 2009 (the most recent full year of available study,) the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that Substance Abuse And Use and brain damage linked to long-term substance abuse killed approximately 37,485 men and women in the country. That same year, 1200 less individuals were killed as a consequence of traffic accidents.

Prescribed Drugs to Blame

The lead medical epidemiologist at the CDC's division of unintentional injury prevention, Dr. Leonard Paulozzi, says that prescribed drug addiction is to blame for this surprising statistic. "There has been an extraordinary rise in use of prescribed drugs as physicians have become more generous in recommending them." He also added that the majority of these prescription drug-related deaths come from unintended overdoses of opioid painkillers such as the well-publicized OxyContin (oxycodone) and Vicodin (hydrocodone).

While the rates of most illicit substance use have decreased in the last several years, prescription drug abuse rates have stayed fairly steady. Experts agree that a significant misunderstanding lies with the public concerning the common safety of these drugs. Americans nationwide are reported to assume that simply because these drugs could be acquired legally, they aren't nearly as harmful as other illegal drugs. The 300,000 plus Americans who were admitted into emergency rooms across the country in 2008 for prescription painkiller complications would surely disagree.

How Accountable Prescribed Drug Abuse Turns into Substance Abuse

Most people in this country who are prescribed painkillers take them responsibly. That said, even if following dosage indications to the "T", obsession can still occur. It really is difficult to assess how an individual's body will respond to the highly addictive nature of these pain pills. The longer you take them the more chance you're giving the body to develop a tolerance to them, and finally grow dependent on them. When dependent, it may be difficult for the addict to decipher real pain symptoms from withdrawal symptoms as opioid pain relievers are known for serious withdrawal. The patient will most likely go into his/her subsequent doctor's appointment still complaining of discomfort and pain, and another prescription will often be written, unknowingly advancing the cycle of substance abuse, instead of starting adequate Substance Abuse Treatment.

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