The greatest fear of anyone associated with a friend, co-worker or loved one caught in the cycle of addiction is that the person will die of an overdose. Most overdoses are considered accidental. At least that is how the families and friends of the addict want to look at their death. However, a new study by SAMSHA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration) in 2008 showed that 8.3 million adults in the U.S. had serious thoughts of committing suicide in the last year.
Out of the 8.3 million considering suicide, 2.3 million Americans made a plan in the last year while 1.1 million adults had actually attempted suicide in the last year. Factoring into the risk levels was gender, age and history of substance abuse. Substance abuse, not surprisingly, increased the risk of seriously considering, planning or attempting suicide. It was found that people experiencing substance abuse disorders within the past year were more than three times as likely to have seriously considered committing suicide as those not battling substance abuse. Those with past year substance abuse were four times more likely to have planned a suicide than those without substance abuse disorders and nearly seven times more likely to have attempted suicide.
These numbers are tragic but not altogether too surprising when taking into consideration the lifestyle of a person caught in the cycle of addiction. Most people tried a drug to avoid a problem and then continued with taking drugs instead of handling the problems in their life, finding them actually worse than at first and now finding themselves addicted to their drug of choice. Now their foremost problem is the cravings for the drug and the “how –to- get -more” of said drug. The lifestyle to keep the addiction fed brings on depression and guilt due to the activities to keep their cravings at bay. This of course increases the guilt where the only way out of this lifestyle to the addict is to commit suicide, which in the their mind will handle all their problems and do their friends and family a favor by them not having to worry over them any longer.
According to one professional in the rehab field, many people entering a rehab program state upon arriving that they had considered suicide because they had hit rock bottom and saw no other way to stop using drugs; and in the process were destroying not only themselves but their families. A person addicted to drugs cannot see any way out of this lifestyle. This is why an effective and successful rehabilitation program which takes a biophysical approach, and teaches Life Skills steps, is able to give that addict the tools and skills to overcome their addiction and to achieve their goals and dreams upon completion of the program, drug-free.
If you need help for yourself or a loved one, please call us on our toll-free Addiction Helpline at 1-877-873-8532. There is hope. It is possible to live a drug-free life…
2009 SuccessfulRehabServices

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No Place to Hide: A Historical Perspective of Drug Abuse & Education In America

 Whether a person is genetically or bio-chemically predisposed to addiction or alcoholism is a controversy that has been debated for years within the scientific, medical and chemical dependency communities. One school of thought advocates the “disease concept” which embraces the notion that addiction is an inherited disease, and that the individual is permanently ill at a genetic level, even for those experiencing long periods of sobriety.mental disorder (i.e., clinical depression, bipolar disorder or some other mental illness), and that the mental disorder needs to be treated first as the primary cause of the addiction.chemical imbalances” in the neurological system that must be treated with psychotropic medications after the person has withdrawn from their drug of choice.peer pressure that influences our decision-making process with regard to finding relief from the discomfort. Peer pressure can manifest itself in many different ways. It can come from friends or family members or through some avenue of advertising or promotion which, when combined with the degree of relief we receive from the drug or drink, determines the severity of the use. Simply put, the bigger the problem, the greater the discomfort the person experiences. The greater the discomfort, the more importance the person places on relieving it and the greater the value he assigns to that which brought about the relief.lifestyle changes along the way that will begin to cause the individual’s quality of life to deteriorate. If the drug or alcohol abuse continues unchecked, eventually the person is faced with so many unpleasant circumstances in their life that each sober moment is filled with so much despair and misery that all he wants to do is escape these feelings by medicating them away. This is the downward spiral of addiction. At this point for most there are only three inevitable outcomes: death, prison or sobriety.

    Another philosophy argues that addiction is a dual problem consisting of a physical and mental dependency on chemicals, compounded by a pre-existing

    A third philosophy subscribes to the idea that chemical dependency leads to permanent ”

    The fact remains that there is some scientific research that favors each of these addiction concepts, but none of them are absolute. Based on national averages, addiction treatment has a 16% to 20% recovery rate. The message is pretty clear that these theories are just that, theories, and we have a lot more to learn if we are to bring the national recovery rate to a more desirable level.

    There is a fourth school of thought which has proven to be more accurate. It has to do with the life cycle of addiction. This data is universally applicable to addiction, no matter which hypothesis is used to explain the phenomenon of chemical dependency.

The life cycle of addiction begins with a problem, discomfort or some form of emotional or physical pain a person is experiencing. The person finds this very difficult to deal with.

    Here is an individual who, like most people in our society, is basically good. He has encountered a problem that is causing him physical or emotional pain and discomfort that he does not have an immediate answer for. Examples would include difficulty “fitting in” as a child or teenager, puberty, physical injuries such a broken bone, a bad back or some other chronic physical condition. Whatever the origin of the difficulty is, the discomfort associated with it presents the individual with a real problem. He feels this problem is a major situation that is persisting. He can see no immediate resolution or relief from it. Most of us have experienced this in our lives to a greater or lesser degree.
 
    Once the person takes a drug, he feels relief from the discomfort, even though the relief is only temporary. That drink or drug is adopted as a solution to the problem and the individual places value on the substance. This assigned value is the only reason the person ever uses drugs or drinks a second, third or more times.

    There is a key factor involved in this life cycle scenario that determines which of us become addicts and which do not. The answer depends on whether or not, at the time of this traumatic experience, we are subjected to pro-drug or pro-alcohol influences via some sort of significant

    For those that start down the path of addiction, they will encounter other physical, mental and

This article was written by Gary W, Smith, C.C.D.C., Executive Director of the Narconon Arrowhead Drug Rehabilitation and Education Center located in Canadian, Oklahoma.

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According to CNN, many people who think prescription pain medication addiction just affects celebrities, like Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and other big names, are in for some shocking news. The Office of the National Drug Control Policy reports more people are abusing prescription drugs currently than cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine combined. In addition, between 1995 and 2005, drug treatment admission for prescription pain medication abuse grew 300 percent.

Right now, prescription drugs are the second most abused drug after alcohol.

While we have seen many big names lose their battles with prescription drug addiction, there are many who have successfully recovered from it and lived to tell their stories.  

One individual who has fully handled his addiction to prescription drugs is Ramsy Darwish. Mr. Darwish recently appeared on a show called America’s “Other” Drug Problem Prescription Medication Abuse with Rick Sanchez and shared his story of addiction and recovery. His drug use started by experimenting with different drugs throughout his adolescent years, until injuries from a car accident started him on pain killers. This quickly led to an escalating addiction of various opiates.

Brought up in a good family who gave him a lot of opportunity, Darwish never thought he would end up a drug addict.  Ramsy struggled with prescription pain medication addiction for many years and burned most of his bridges, until his family intervened and got him help through a longterm drug and alcohol rehabilitation program which successfully addresses the biophysical and life skills aspects of drug addiciton, and which maintians an over 70% success rate for permanent addiction recovery.

On CNN news, Darwish explained that using prescription drugs helped him deal with emotional and physical pain and that typically people start to abuse prescription drugs as a way to handle personal loss and various other problems instead of the original physical pain that the original prescription was written for.   Once thoroughly addicted to the drugs, the drug use creates more and more problems for the person and their family. The only answer lies only in successful drug treatment.

Ramsy’s experience is one example of this.  Unlike many who have lost their lives as a result of substance abuse, he was able to fully recover from his addiction and been stably off drugs for several years and is happily married.  Since his recovery, Ramsy trained to become an addiction counselor and is now helping others to live a drug-free life.

Whether a person is a celebrity, loved one, family member or friend, if they are addicted to prescription drugs, they don’t have to end up like Michael Jackson or Heath Ledger. Successful recovery from prescription drug abuse is possible.

Please contact us at www.successfulrehabservices.org, or call our toll-free Addiction Helpline at 1-877-873-8532 if you or a loved one needs help to overcome addiciton, and live a drug-free life.

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Revealed: The EIGHT drugs Michael Jackson was taking EVERY DAY before his fatal heart attack

By Michael Seamark and David Gardner
Last updated at 9:03 PM on 27th June 2009

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Devastated: Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris and his mother Katherine arriving at his Beverly Hills home after he died

Michael Jackson was taking a devastating cocktail of drugs in the weeks before his sudden death, it has emerged.

The singer was said to be taking three powerful painkillers all at the same time, when more than could be potentially fatal, and was also consuming vast quantities of other pills every day.

It is claimed Jackson, 50, was injected with the powerful painkiller Demerol - a synthetic drug similar to morphine - moments before he collapsed and died from a massive heart attack.

Sources cited by The Sun claim the star was having three of these injections every day but was also taking two other painkillers Dilaudid and Vicodin.

On top of this potentially deadly combination, Jackson was also taking a host of other medications as he battled to get fit and healthy ahead of his comeback concerts in Britain next month.

They included the muscle relaxant Soma, sedative Xanax, anti-depressent Zoloft, Paxil for anxiety and the heartburn pill Prilosec, it is claimed.

Such a huge amount of drugs would have been dangerous for anyone but even more so for Jackson, who at 5ft11 weighed only nine stone and whose health had long been a concern. 

The new claims about the singer’s drug abuse came as his body was released back to his family early today as police were preparing to question one of the singer’s doctors.

The doctor, named as cardiologist Conrad Robert Murray, was said to have tried to revive Jackson, then disappeared for several hours.

Sources said the singer had been using the drug Demerol as he battled to be fit for his first London show next month. The heart specialist had been living at his rented house.

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Sad journey: The body of Michael Jackson is lifted from a helicopter and into a waiting coroner’s van

According to U.S. website TMZ, which broke the news of Jackson’s death, police are also looking to talk to Dr Tohme Tohme about an ‘alleged indirect connection’ between prescription drugs and the death.

Dr Tohme describes himself as Jackson’s longterm friend and manager. He told the website: ‘I don’t have anything to do with his (Jackson’s) medication or health’.

A three and a half hour post mortem was conducted yesterday. Coroners said there were no signs of foul play or trauma but more tests were needed and could take up to eight weeks to complete.

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Deadly cocktail: Jackson was allegedly taking painkillers Demerol, Vicodin, Dilaudid, anti-anxiety medications Xanax and Zoloft, muscle relaxant Soma, Prisolec for heartburn and the anti-depressant Paxil…”

Drugs.  Prescription drugs.  Street drugs.  ”Meds”.  Pharmaceuticals.  It is a legacy of death for those vunerable artists who fail to protect themselves from the drug dealers–whether they be sanctioned by the medical or psychiatric profession with a license to practice, or merely selling their wares on the streets or in the back alleys of life.  Those who with ill-intent would prey upon the giftedness and great spiritual wealth bestowed upon few who walk this planet–and who, with their drugs, ultimately destroy our beloved artists who bring beauty and culture and hope to the people of the world.  Artists who change our lives and our cultures forever with their creativity and vision and freedom of spirit, as is their birthright.

Farewell, Michael.  Just as we bade farewell with broken hearts to those greats who fell before you under the same onslaught of betrayal in the name of help…Elvis Presley, Janis Joplin, Jimmi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, et al. 

As poet James Kavanaugh wrote, “There are men too gentle to live among wolves”. 

Godspeed, Michael. 

 

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