Prescription drugs can be hazardous to your health, and many are seriously addictive and can even kill.

However, a recent study in Florida, drug-related deaths in Florida reveals that far more people suddenly fall victim to lethal drug combinations – called polydrug abuse – that each drug, and can occur at the recreational users, as well as those trapped by addiction to prescription drugs.

It is common knowledge that addiction to prescription drugs has become a national nightmare.

However, the sudden death of prescription drugs is the subject of the news every day. The Florida study, an analysis of the 168,900 deaths in 2007 by the Medical Examiners Commission, Florida, found that deaths from prescription drugs are three times the rate of deaths caused by traditional illicit drugs such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine.

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Do you feel anxious about getting your prescription filled before it runs out? Do you need to take more pills than before to achieve the effect you desire? Do you get your prescriptions from many doctors? Perhaps you are, like many others, a sufferer of a drug addiction. One of the most common addictions in the American society today is a relatively unheard of drug called hydrocodone. So, why haven’t you heard of it before? Because, pure hydrocodone is seldom sold on its own.

Why is hydrocodone addiction so common?
Evidence shows that hydrocodone addiction is increasing amongst habitual users in the United States. Perhaps one of the most important factors causing this alarming rise is the fact that hydrocodone is consumed with drugs whose use and distribution is not as severely restricted. Pure hydrocodone is classified as a Schedule II substance, whereas when it is mixed with other non-narcotic ingredients to create other medicines, it is classified as a Schedule III drug. Schedule III drugs, such as Vicodin and Lortab, which contain hydrocodone, are not as strictly restricted as pure hydrocodone would be if it was sold as is. Thus its easy availability becomes one of the root causes for its devastating addiction. The lack of regulation makes these drugs susceptible to misuse and addiction.

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The most commonly felt effects of physical withdrawal from tobacco smoking are feelings of anger, depression, anxiety and restlessness. A chain smoker’s body experiences sharply rising and falling levels of nicotine on a daily basis. In the withdrawal stage, these cycles are coming to an end. Over years, the nicotine literally takes control of about 200 neurochemicals in the brain. The brain is slowly regaining control of these. This causes the intense emotional effects mentioned above.

Within the first 72 hours of withdrawal, if a user abstains totally from nicotine, they will begin to feel the gradual effects of recovery. The brain is now getting used to being lavished with nicotine-free oxygen.

During the early stages of withdrawal, time seems to drag endlessly. The first few weeks are interminable. It is important not to let this overshadow the greater purpose and really keep going with a positive attitude. One may experience an unbearable craving to grab a cigarette. During such an episode, it helps to take a look at the clock and actually time the duration of the ‘attack’. It will likely last no longer that 3 minutes, although it may seem endless � this helps to gain perspective.

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Commonly prescribed for its effectiveness as an analgesic or pain reliever, addiction to hydrocodone is today being viewed as a mounting crisis. While addiction to illicit drugs, like cocaine, marijuana and heroin that claim national headlines ever so often, is widely talked about, we scarcely know about hydrocodone abuse and addiction. For instance, did you know that hydrocodone is perhaps the most widely abused prescription drug in the United States of America? Or, that nationwide its use has quadrupled over the last decade?

Sales and production of hydrocodone have been rising significantly in the past few years. Presently, in the United States alone about 20 tons of hydrocodone products are manufactured and sold.

What is Hydrocodone?
Simply put, hydrocodone is an effective anti-cough agent. It is also an opiate, due to which it is of often prescribed for mild to moderate pain control. Often weighed against morphine for its pain control abilities, many studies have shown that when hydrocodone is taken within the prescription parameters, it is considered safe and seldom causes any addiction. In fact, under these conditions it can be used to mange pain quite successfully. Hydrocodone is sold under several brand names such as Anexsia, Hycodan, Hycomine, Lorcet, Lortab, Tussionex, Tylox, Vicodin, and Vicoprofen. It is available as tablets, capsules, and/or syrups. By and large, it is abused orally rather than by intravenous administration.

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It is most important to stay motivated during the process of recovery. It helps to make a list of benefits, or advantages of quitting the addictive behavior. These should be benefits that are very valuable to you � valuable enough to turn your back on the addiction. Setbacks will occur and should be viewed as opportunities to learn.

Coping with the intense urges and cravings is perhaps the greatest challenge for most individuals. In the case of substance abuse in particular, the drug radically alters the brain by literally taking control of certain neuro chemicals. It is important to understand the temporary nature of the urges. During withdrawal, the time that the urge lasts seems endless and unbearable. It helps to actually clock the duration of an urge and see for oneself that it does end. Recovering addicts have reported that urges initially reach a climax in frequency, intensity and duration, but gradually lose their strength and fizzle out.

Some specific techniques for coping with urges are as follows:
� Attempt to stand apart from it for a moment and witness it as an outsider, with detachment.
� Recall your list of ‘benefits of quitting’
� Go back to the task you were performing
� Consider the negative fallouts of succumbing to the urge
� Completely focus your energies on any other thought or activity
� Deprive the urge of your attention. You will find that it tends to disappear gradually.

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The new drug of choice is not an illicit substance found only in the dark alley ways and parts of town known for criminal activity. Instead the hottest craze can be found in the medicine cabinet of any suburban home with well manicured lawns and picturesque neighborhoods. Prescription drug abuse is rapidly becoming an epidemic that is manifesting related crimes in big cities and small towns alike. In order to support drug addictions, abusers are resorting to robbing pharmacies (at gun Point), raiding hospital medical supply closets, and has created a rise in employee theft.

The problem has become so pervasive that a number of local law enforcement agencies have assigned a special task force to focus exclusively on the matter of crimes associated with prescription drugs. In spite of budget shortfalls and mandatory furloughs, this issue demands the attention of employment and political leaders. The potential for harm is a continuous threat to both innocent citizens and to the individual committing the offense. The public is at risk when a would be robber needs a fix and decides to rob the local pharmacy for prescription drugs and cash. These facilities serve the public, many of them being seniors, in providing vital services designed to enhance quality of life – and even sustaining life in some instances. It is incredibly selfish that an individual or small group of people would jeopardize the lives and well being of so many people for a moment of instant gratification.

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Prescription drugs’ easy availability and high addictive qualities not only ruin the lives of those who are addicted, but also those who love and care for them. One only has to look in the nearest medicine cabinet to find a plethora of pain, anti-anxiety and sleep medications to find a quick “fix” for any discomfort . The best way to handle body discomfort is to make sure you are eating correctly, getting enough sleep and daily exercise. However Americans today want instant relief which can very easily lead down the road of addiction. To throw into the mix of prescription drugs is Oxycontin, legally prescribed by doctors for pain management, now considered a gateway drug to heroin due to the similar effects it has on a person. This is truly frightening a person begins to take a medication for a real pain and weeks later finds themselves addicted. Knowledge is the best defense against addiction. Narconon Arrowhead has provided drug education to over 65,000 youth about the realities and consequences of drugs and alcohol along with an effective inpatient drug and alcohol rehab with a 70% success rate.

Phoenix has created organizations to help with the drug epidemic with the establishment of programs such as Arizona Substance Abuse Partnership (ASAP), Governor’s Division for Substance Abuse Policy, Drug Endangered Children (DEC) Program and the Parents Commission on Drug Education and Prevention to name a few. These are not rehabilitation facilities, these are preventative organizations dealing with substance abuse and how to avoid a life of addiction. For a person already caught in the cycle of addiction, inpatient rehab is the answer for that person to regain a drug-free, productive, responsible, ethical and happy life.

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Michael Jackson, dead at age 50. Probable cause of death: medicine. Celebrities in the US are being killer faster by prescription drugs than their sometimes wild lifestyles. The list of major celebrities killed by medical drugs just in the last year: Michael Jackson, Heath Ledger and Anna Nicole Smith. Michael Jackson is the most notable celebrity to be killed recently by prescribed medication.

Taking Drugs Can Kill

Michael Jackson was taking pain killers and possibly other benzodiazepine drugs. Both drugs produce physical and mental depression. Drugs produce damaging effects.

The proper question to ask oneself before taking or accepting any drug for any situation is “How much damage am I willing to live or die with to get the desired effects I’m looking for?” Remember that those effects build on top of the earlier drug effect and creates a worsening condition, even if you can’t immediately perceive it.

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If you are looking for information on prescription drug rehab treatment then you have come to the right place. Prescription drugs are drugs that you can get over the counter at any pharmacy and are just as easy to become addicted to as the other type of drugs including alcohol. The first step is the same with making any positive change in your life. You have to admit that you have a prescription drug problem. Say to yourself literally “I need to go into prescription drug rehab”.

What steps should you take towards getting into rehabilitation then? You have to make sure that you know how much you are willing to put into this financially. You need to know this because there are options that range in price. From the low end of state funded rehab programs to the high end of private organizations that offer the top services currently available and the prices reflect it. There is something for everyone in there though.

Secondly you have to want to change. You need to want to change like you want air to breathe it has to be that bad. Some people are not ready for the change to get off the drugs it may surprise you to hear that. Some people have not suffered enough yet and must go away and suffer a bit more before they can make a lasting change.

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Nearly a third of new drug abusers begin their downward spiral into addiction with prescription drugs, and potent narcotic painkillers, such as oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methadone, are the first-time choice for one in every five new abusers, says a new report from the National Drug Intelligence Center (NDIC). And all across the country, thousands of people who have fallen victim to prescription drug addiction are searching for treatment to help them get back their lives.

Gil Kerlikowske, Director of National Drug Control Policy, has released a report on prescription drug diversion and abuse, calling non-medical use of prescription drugs a serious threat to public health and safety.

According to the report, unintentional deaths involving prescription opioid painkillers increased 114 percent from 2001 to 2005, while treatment admissions increased 74 percent in the same period.

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