DOE’S YOUR SON OR DAUGHTER HAVE ACCESS TO NARCOTIC MEDICATION IN YOUR HOME?

Do you know what is in your medicine cabinet right now?  Millions of Americans are abusing prescription drugs these days, and often they are obtaining them through “legitimate prescriptions” or right from the family medicine cabinet.  While drug rehab is a solution to the problem, the ideal situation is prevention.

A 2008 national survey by the University of Michigan showed that nearly 10 percent of 12th graders have used the painkiller Vicodin to get high. More than half obtained the drug from a friend or relative, the study found.

“The problem of prescription drug abuse is increasing among both teenagers and adults, while the use of other dangerous drugs like heroin and cocaine has declined”, said Steve Liga, the CEO of the National Council on Alcoholism & Drug Dependence in Middlesex County, NJ.

"The use of nearly everything is going down," Liga said. "The one that's not is pharmaceutical drugs. You see it very stubbornly hanging on and even increasing. In some ways the prevention message has got out very well but we haven't really been talking prescription drugs."

”Various pharmaceuticals like Ativan and Xanax, have proven "highly addictive" if not used as prescribed.  OxyContin and other pain relievers, opiates, are being highly abused today" said  Dr. Louis E. Baxter, a Princeton-based addiction physician and president of the 3,500-member American Society of Addiction Medicine

"One of the reasons is that they are available in people's medicine cabinets," Baxter said. "People obtain drugs from family members and friends. Of course, where physicians are prescribing these, there should be more follow-up and a better way to evaluate if a person is using these properly."

Eric Mitchell, President of Suncoast Rehabilitation Center in Florida, urges people to clean out their medicine cabinets and not to save unused medications. Too often young adults and teenagers help themselves to prescription drugs in their parents' or grandparents' bathrooms.

"These teenagers and young adults know that they can sell Oxycontin on the street for $30 per tablet, and we are seeing more and more people enroll in our drug rehab program who have been abusing prescription drugs and selling them to support their habit” said Mitchell.

Prescription drug withdrawal can be very difficult and very painful if not done properly.  Suncoast Rehab Center offers a long-term, holistic program, that assists the individual in withdrawing from certain prescription drugs safely.  Once drug free, Suncoast utilizes a sauna detoxification program, combined with an extensive regimen of vitamins, minerals, and amino acids, to help rid the body of toxins or residuals of the prescription drugs.

If you or a loved one needs help with overcoming prescription drug addiction, contact Suncoast Rehab Center toll free at 800-511-9403, or log on to the website at http://www.suncoastrehabcenter.com/.