Tag Archives: Prescription Drug Addiction

Zac Efron Went to Rehab? Celebrities You Didn’t Know Had Addictions

The celebrity drug addiction story is one we’ve all heard numerous times. From the Keith Richards to the Lindsay Lohans and the Charlie Sheens, we expect excess from some of our celebrities. Others, however, cultivate such as wholesome image or play seemingly innocent characters in movies or TV shows that we’d never expect them to […]

Teens Are Faking ADHD Symptoms to Get Adderall

When a medication is effective, we give thanks. Drugs that can alleviate problem symptoms help patients live normal lives and restore a positive and hopeful outlook that brings many other desired outcomes. But when good medications are misused, everyone suffers. Patients are greeted with more skepticism and eventually medications become harder to obtain.  Doctors are […]

Urban Outfitters Discontinues ‘Prescription Line’ Products

What one person may find humorous may not be so funny to others. This is the case in the Urban Outfitters “Prescription Line” products. Anti-drug groups, legislators and politicians gathered together and requested that Urban Outfitters re-examine its line of products that glorified drinking alcohol and taking drugs. The products undo all the work that […]

Painkiller Overdose Deaths Among Women Reach Epidemic Proportions

Prescription painkillers have been a growing problem in the United States for years. Because they are controlled, but legal, painkillers are viewed as safer than street drugs by too many people. The result is more addictions, more overdoses, and more deaths caused by medications like oxycodone, hydrocodone, and others. According to recent information released by […]

Single Dose of Ritalin Helps With Cocaine Addiction, Study Finds

If methadone is used to help with heroin addiction and nicotine replacement products are used to help with nicotine addiction, could a stimulant like Ritalin help with addiction to a stimulant like cocaine? That’s the question researchers asked in a new study, conducted at the Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and recently published in […]

Promises’ Dr. David Sack Tells CBS News That Doctors Share in Blame for Huge Spike in Prescription Drug Deaths

Deaths from prescription painkiller overdoses among women have increased more than 400% since 1999, the Centers for Disease Control reported July 2. In fact, every three minutes a woman goes to the emergency room for prescription painkiller use or abuse. “The big picture is that this is a big problem that has gotten much worse […]

Alarming Rise in Babies Born Addicted to Prescription Drugs

For the last several years, headlines have told the story of the new drug scourge in the U.S. Prescription narcotic painkillers are being used and abused like never before. From young teens experimenting, to adults with legitimate prescriptions, to junkies needing a new, cheap high, the number of people falling victim to abuse continues to […]

Prescription Painkillers Can Make Chronic Pain Worse

Years ago, Dr. Michael Baron made a surprising discovery: Prescription painkillers often make chronic pain worse, not better. When he published his original research in 2006, this finding defied all logic. “When I told my patients they’d have less pain if they stopped using pain meds, they told me I was crazy,” Dr. Baron recalls. […]

Animal Study Links Missing Brain Enzyme With Addiction to Painkillers

The nature-nurture debate is alive and well in the world of drug addiction research. Scientists and addiction experts have long-speculated whether the biological factors—genetic variations and the resulting susceptibility—or the psycho-social factors—like depression, parental substance abuse, or socioeconomic disadvantage—are responsible for addiction. It’s generally agreed that both factors contribute to addiction, with at least 50 […]

Chronic Pain and Substance Abuse – A Challenging Combination

Chronic pain has a profound effect on anyone’s life. If you’re saddled with chronic pain, you may not be able to work or exercise, let alone enjoy life in general. Pain causes sleep disturbances and, when chronic, often triggers symptoms of depression. In short, life with chronic pain can be miserable. It’s no surprise that […]

Wake-Up Call for Parents: One in Four Teens Has Abused Prescription Meds

New survey results released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org find  that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription drug at least once  – a 33 percent increase over the last five years. The study is actually the 24th annual survey used by the organization to track and research drug use in this […]

Pot Smokers More Likely to Abuse Prescription Drugs

The widespread misuse of prescription painkillers has prompted the medical community to look for ways to better understand and regulate them. The doctors, pharmacists and policymakers involved in seeking to promote responsible use of prescription painkillers intend to provide solutions that prevent misuse of the drugs, but without threatening the relief that they offer to […]

Addiction Treatment to Gain Big Boost Under Obamacare

Health care is a controversial and complex issue, especially now as political wrangling is hitting full tilt in states that are reluctant to accept Medicaid expansion on the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Today, only one penny of every dollar that is spent on health care will go to assist a person facing debilitating […]

Wake-Up Call for Parents: One in Four Teens Has Abused Prescription Meds

New survey results released by The Partnership at Drugfree.org find  that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription drug at least once  – a 33 percent increase over the last five years. The study is actually the 24th annual survey used by the organization to track and research drug use in this […]

The Staggering Costs of Alcohol and Drug Addiction

“Drug addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disorder characterized by a compulsion to take a drug with loss of control over drug intake.” – Scripps Research Institute Both alcoholics and drug addicts struggle with the mental, emotional, spiritual and physical consequences of their substance abuse. But what, exactly, is the difference between an alcoholic and […]

Painkiller’s Use in Sports Sets Off Alarm Bells

The national spotlight has been focused on professional cycling with seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong finally coming clean on his use of steroids and blood boosters. But baseball isn’t far behind–some of its biggest stars are also under the microscope, not for steroid use, but for an anti-inflammatory drug called Toradol.

Is Adderall the New Xanax? Why So Much Buzz About Adderall?

Eighty-eight percent of the world’s legal amphetamine supply is produced in US, and over-worked college students, celebrities, and sports stars seem to be taking to the drug with increasing regularity. It doesn’t seem like too long ago that Xanax was the nation’s drug of choice, but it looks like a new prescription drug has entered […]

OxyContin and Shifting Trends in Opioid Abuse

OxyContin (also known simply as Oxy) is a branded form of oxycodone, an opioid prescription medication with a strong chemical resemblance to codeine. Unlike most other forms of oxycodone, it contains an extended-release formula that remains active in the body for as long as 12 hours. When OxyContin first entered the US market in the […]

Is Ritalin a Gateway Drug?

The discussion of gateway drugs is a popular topic for some people who are working to combat worldwide drug problems. The question of how and why certain people begin to use drugs is crucial to reducing drug abuse around the globe, and the gateway drug hypothesis is one possible explanation. The idea behind the gateway […]