Browse: Home / Drug Rehabs Information Blog
By admin on April 14, 2012
A study from John Hopkins University School of Medicine is showing that opioid addicts that seek treatment usually start with detoxing but 65 to 80 percent of them relapse within a month of undergoing this detox if it is the only treatment that is done. This study found that if the opioid addicts were provided with a drug-free housing and day treatment after detox they were up to 10 times more likely to remain drug-free.
The researchers followed 243 opioid addicts-primarily heroin users, after the addicts release from detox. They looked at a period after six months and the abstinence rate for those who had no follow-up housing or treatment was 13 percent, compared with 37 percent for those who received housing and 50 percent for those who received housing and day treatment. The study was published online in the journal Addiction. Michelle Tuten, the lead researcher, stated, “It’s no surprise that opioid-dependent individuals stay off drugs longer when they live in a structured, drug-free environment after finishing detox. Drug-free dependent individuals frequently report housing as their most pressing need. If we want to help people stay off heroin and stop abusing prescription painkillers, we need to do more than help them initiate abstinence; we need to help them maintain abstinence and build a drug-free lifestyle as well. Improved access to drug-free recovery housing and day-treatment programs would clearly move us closer to that goal.”
Something can be done about it. According to this report an inpatient treatment center would be the exact thing an addict needs to get abstinent and stay that way. The detoxing and withdrawing is only the beginning. The addict needs to stay in house and get a program that will teach them life skills so they can handle the problems they have had in the past. That is why they became an addict to begin with.
If you or someone you love needs an inpatient drug rehab, we can help. Call our hotline now at 1-800-435-2890.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged drug rehab, inpatient, rehabilitation, rehabs |
By admin on April 12, 2012
A study led by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine demonstrates the impact of ecstasy on fetal and infant development. As we all know ecstasy is an illegal stimulant and hallucinogen with the scientific name of 3, 4- MDMA. This study was published in the February issue of Neurotoxicology and Teratology and it shows that when pregnant women use ecstasy the chemical signaling that determines the baby’s gender is affected and that the drug contributes to development delays in infants. Leading researcher, Lynn T. Singer, PhD deputy Provost and vice president for the academic affairs at he University said: “ The potential harmful effects of ecstasy exposure on prenatal and infant development have long been a concern, The drug’s negative effects are particularly risky for pregnant women, who may use the drug without being aware of their condition.”
The researchers had 96 participants from the University of East London Drugs and Infancy Study. They surveyed the participants before and during their pregnancy regarding their substance abuse, including ecstasy and what they got form this survey is an assessment for psychiatric symptoms and related difficulties that were drug use related. The majority of these women reported to have taken a variety of illegal drugs before and during pregnancy and the variables were assessed. The results were that women who used ecstasy during their pregnancy experience more negative social consequences, such as health, job and social problems. The use of ecstasy also seemed to have an impact on the ratio of female babies born. There was more male births amongst those who used ecstasy during pregnancy. It is also noted that there was a potential delay in the infants’ cognitive development and gross motor development.
Why any woman would do drugs while she is pregnant is hard to understand. The effects of this drug will obviously harm the child also.
If you or someone you love needs long term drug rehab, we can help. Call our hotline now at 1-800-435-2890.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged ecstasy, inpatient, mdma, pregnancy, pregnant, rehab
By admin on April 10, 2012
There is a European country in Spain that is having a tough time economically. In fact the national unemployment rate is around 23 percent. One of their local towns Rasquera which has a population of 900 came up with a plan to pay off a $1.7 million debt and save itself from economic ruin. The idea is to grow marijuana for a private cannabis clubs on city property. How can they do that you say? Personal marijuana use is legal in Spain, which means growing it is also technically legal. Rasquera’s Mayor Bernat Pellisa got consensus to partner with the Barcelona Personal Use Cannabis Assocaition (ABCDA) a 5,000 member private cannabis club to grow marijuana and distribute it from a plot of land next to city hall. ABCDA has invested $40,000 to have marijuana planted on a roughly 17 acre plot of land then the group will pay the town more than $850,000 each year for the supply off this plot.
The mayor is quoted as saying, “The produce will only go to memebers of the association and it won’t all be cannabis. This initiative will produce 40 new jobs and provide a steady supply of income for the town to survive the ongoing economic crisis.”
Since the announcement there was another private club with 7,000 members who have contacted Rasquera officials to set up their own growing arrangement. Officials’ feel that marijuana can be used safely and that growing it can contribute tremendously to the local economy,
Martin Barriuso form the Basque Cannabis Federation to the U.K.’s Guardian stated, “Cannabis use is an established and increasingly accepted reality in our society. Instead of turning our backs on this reality we think the reasonable thing to do is to find a way to regulate it, encouraging responsible use and make it difficult for adolescents to obtain.”
Here in the US we have the War on Drugs and in other countries marijuana is legal. Could it be that this kind of situation is not far up the road?
If you or someone you love needs inpatient drug rehab, we can help. Call our hotline now at 1-800-435-2890.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged drug rehab, inpatient, long term
By admin on April 9, 2012
Most of the time a good friend or a family member may mention to you that they are concerned about your behavior concerning the drugs or alcohol you use. Then some people get to their doctor and he will ask you questions like how often you use the drug; if the drug use has been criticized by other people. He may ask you if you feel like you have a problem. Then if he feels like you have a problem he will send you to a “specialists” and that might include an addiction counselor. According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of mental Disorders a patient diagnosed with an addiction must meet criteria and they find this criteria in a manual published by the American Psychiatric Association. These criteria must include three of the following:
Tolerance – the substance has less effect on the patient. They need more and more of it to get the same pleasure.
There are physical withdrawal symptoms or the person takes the substance to avoid experiencing withdrawals.
The person frequently takes higher-than intended doses of the substance.
The person often tries to quit or cut down.
More and more time is spent getting hold of the substance, using it, or recovering from its effects.
The person’s use of it causes him to give up social or occupational activities.
Even though the person knows it cause problems they continue to use it.
That is how an addiction may be diagnosed if you are in the medical system. Frankly, if you are using drugs or alcohol and you feel miserable and you would like to stop feeling emotionally miserable I believe that is a big sign you need help to change something in your life. Reach out for help. You know yourself better than anyone else. Observe for yourself what you need to change things and make yourself happy and productive again. Get help from someone who will give you solutions without taking more drugs. Make sure their solutions include detoxification and nutrition. Make sure you get some life skills so you can solve your past problems as well as the ones you have right now.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged addict, addiction, curing, dependency, diagnose, diagnosis, drug abuse, drugs, understanding |
By admin on April 8, 2012
One of the most important things in the war on drugs is the Mexican border and President Obama is stating that the border has never been more protected. Border patrol has doubled with an estimated 8,000 agent that are patrolling southern borders. Governor Rick Perry is warning that is not enough. He feels there should be more done because of the mounting drug violence in Mexico. The state of Texas has mobilized its own force to get the job done including hundreds of Texas Rangers, troopers and pilots. There were 15 helicopters assigned to areas from El Paso to the Rio Grande Valley. Captain Stacy Holland, a supervisor of the air team from the Texas Department of Public Safety states, “because the state of Texas shares 1,254 miles of border with Mexico we have a self-serving interest and are thrust right into the middle of the fight.” The DPS is reporting that an area along the Rio Grande Valley is the busiest smuggling corridor in Texas. Captain Holland further stated, “Right here we’ve actually timed smugglers, they can get a 2,000 pound load across in less than two minutes from Mexico onto a highway of the US. In these pursuits the driver has been trained. This is not his first rodeo. He knows this area like the back of his hand.”
These helicopters have cameras and they are capturing video of all the high speed chases. There are more than just one or two guys from Mexico on these drug runs. The area is a real smuggling hotspot. Some are wondering is the threat of violence from Mexico real or rhetoric? That remains to be seen. With the political scene getting hotter someone will make more of what is going on the Texas border. For sure the war on drugs roars on.
If you or your loved one needs a Texas long term drug rehab, we can help. Call our hotline now at 1-800-435-2890.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged dps, drug rehab, drugs, long term, texas, trafficking
By admin on April 5, 2012
A symptom is something you feel and then you can describe it and a sign is something everybody can detect when they look at you.
Believe me when you have had too much to drink you know when you have the symptoms of a hangover. You have a headache, feel sick, dizzy, sleepy, confused and thirsty. When you wake up after a night out of heavy alcohol drinking is when you really feel the hangover. You may even feel some nervousness, regret, shame and some depression. It all depends on how much you drank and whether you slept enough. If you did not get enough sleep you will feel worse. If you were tired the day before you drank and if you were already dehydrated you will feel worse. Hangovers generally last about 24 hours. If you have severe signs and symptoms and they don’t go away you may have alcohol poisoning and; you need to get medical attention as soon as possible.
According to the National Health Service, UK, there is no “treatment” for a hangover. The best way to avoid one is don’t drink in the first place or drink sensibly. Men should not consume over 3 to 4 units and women 2 to 3 units of alcohol per day. A hangover has to run its course and here are some ideas to help relieve your day. Sip water throughout the day; eat bland foods like crackers or bread; take some aspirin and get back to sleep. You will recover a little faster if you do these things.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged abuse, addiction, alcohol, drugs, hangovers, rehabilitation, symptoms |
By admin on April 3, 2012
The Center for Addiction and Mental health and their scientist have identified a potential target to develop an anticraving medication. This would be done for people with addictions to stimulants. This discovery was on a brain receptor that had to do with the chemical dopamine. Dopamine as we know has a complex role in addictive behavior. How did they do this research? They used a brain scan and a chemical probe and they found that the probe had high levels of binding to the dopamine D3receptor in some people with methamphetamine addiction and compared with those who had no addiction. They also found that higher levels of D3 were also linked to participants’ reported motivation to take drugs.
Dr. Isabelle Boileau a scientist in the Research Imaging Centre stated, “This is the first time, to our knowledge, that anyone has shown that D3 receptor levels are high in people with an active addiction to methamphetamine.” Boileau’s team looked at D3 levels in 16 people who were dependent on methamphetamine. The D3 receptors appear to have a role in craving the drug but it did not established how they are related to the behaviors of an addict.
As of this date strategies for stimulant addiction have focused on increasing activity with D2 receptors where binding levels have been low. Boileau stated, “Our finding also supports the idea that D3 shoud be considered another target for anti-craving medications.”
So there you are lots of research done with brain scans and imaging just to see why a person does drugs. Sometimes I think we spend too much money on explaining why and not enough money on getting people educated on why they should not take drugs to begin with. As the reported of this write up I have learned a great deal about how drugs and alcohol are affecting many of us each and every day. And believe me it is not worth it to even start but that is maybe because I did look at how it really harmfully affected many people.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged anti craving medication, dopamine, drug rehab, medication for addiction
By admin on April 1, 2012
Want to talk to you about a sad day in this world and that is today when the vey medications prescribed for treating different diseases becomes the leading causes of death. Based on information retrieved by the LA Times, the number of drug fatalities has doubled within the past ten years. Did you know that legal drugs kill nearly 38,000 Americans every single year? Imagine what it would be if all of the deaths that come from drugs is reported.
Every 14 minutes a person is killed by prescription drugs and that is bringing to the forefront that medication induced deaths are on the upswing all over the United States. These deaths have become so plentiful that the statistics on the average yearly total now goes over the number of deaths caused by traffic accidents.
Which drugs are causing this upswing? Painkillers like Oxycontin, Vicodin, Xanax, Soma and a new drug Fentanyl. Fentanyl comes in the form of patches and lollipops are 100 times stronger than morphine. Reports are stating that people both young and old are prescribed these drugs by their doctors for pain or anxiety and they are increasingly overdosing on them. There is a reality that is going on and that is these are some of normal individuals who had no prior history of drug abuse or addiction and then they become hooked on prescription drugs. The way that happens is one drug begins to lose its potency so the person combines one drug with another just to maintain the same high and they often end up overdosing. What I am observing is that people of all ages are now dying on a regular basis as a result of taking drugs from Big Pharma’s “medicine”.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged prescription abuse, prescription drugs, rehab, rehabilitation
By admin on March 31, 2012
Dr. J. C. Barnes a criminologist from the University of Texas Dallas did a report on genes being a strong predictor of whether you stray into a life of crime. All of the findings were published and detailed in an issue of Criminology. The study looked at whether genes are likely to cause a person to become a life-course persistent offender. How do we recognize that in a person well by antisocial behavior during childhood and this behavior can lead to violent or serious criminal acts later in life.
Dr. Barnes stated, “No one had actually considered the possibility that genetic factors could be a strong predictor of which path you end up on.” He notes that genetic factors will play a larger role for the life-course persistent offender pathway as compared to the adolescence limited pathway. Adolescent-limited pathways offenders exhibit behaviors such as alcohol and drug use and minor property crime during adolescence. Abstainers represent a smaller number of people who don’t engage in any deviant behavior.
Well the conclusions were that genetic influences in life-course persistent offending were larger than environmental influences. It was noted that for abstainers it was roughly an equal split: genetic factors played a large role and so too did the environment.
The research notes that if they are showing that genes have an overwhelming influence on who gets put onto the life-course persistent pathway then they need to know which genes are involved and how are they interacting with the environment. Barnes said there is no gene for criminal behavior. He said crime is a learned behavior.
There are probably many of you reading this and saying I wish I knew why my child is acting up. Well take a look at your child and see if he is doing drugs. Antisocial behavior is one of the tell tales when a person gets on drugs. They change behavior and indeed they learn criminal acts to continue their drug use.
Inpatient drug rehabilitation programs are an answer. Call us now for assistance at 1-800-435-2890.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged drug abuse, drug addiction, drug rehabilitation, gene, genetics, help, inpatient
By admin on March 27, 2012
Drugs don’t discriminate. Strange title I know. But that’s the truth. They don’t care what you think, what your views on politics, homosexuality, animal rights or religion are. They don’t care if you are the best dressed or if you smell and look like you’ve been sleeping in a dumpster. They accept you for who you are but will always end up changing you. I guess that’s the pull of drugs for teens and honestly just about any human being you could think of. We all want to be accepted. We may not want to admit it, but deep down we all want to be accepted in life for who we are and not be discriminated against. Drugs did that for me. The thing I didn’t realize is that a relationship with drugs is like an abusive relationship. Even though they accept you at face value, they will always try to change you. They change how you look, sallow faces, sunken in eyes, that lost desperation that can truly only come from someone hooked on the drug of their choice. They change the way you talk, lies and deceit come so much easier than truth. They change the way you think, negative critical criminal thoughts of how to get more or how to get away with it. It doesn’t happen all at once. It’s gradual, sometimes. Sometimes it can happen all at once. And you can almost see it happen. I got clean for several months and I could feel myself slipping back, not having used yet, but just the way of thinking and I remember having a dream, more like a nightmare, about using. I woke up nearly in tears as I clung to my boyfriend begging him to never let me go back there. He didn’t know what I was talking about and I just went back to sleep. A few months later I was back on and back on strong. And it was almost as if a switch flipped in my head. What I was once afraid of, I embraced. I hung out downtown with the street kids again. I was sleeping underneath a bridge with people I barely knew sharing pipes and talking about what we could fix and make. In and out of shelters, going through clothes other people had left behind. Was that me? Maybe a part of me sure but definitely not the person I thought I was or that I have been able to become off of drugs. Tons of ambitions but they all fell flat, went right down the gutter which I was sleeping next to. This was the second time I had resorted to living on the street. The first time I was 18. Yes, just 18 and my best friend, my best friend was 15 and had been on the street for 2 years. We were both hooked on meth but this next time. It was meth, crack, heroin…. You name it. And how did it start? Did I have parents that were addicts? No. Did I have some creepy uncle who thought it would be fun to get me my first high? Did I know some bad kids who had connections to bad drugs? No. It started with high school. Being a party girl I guess. Drink a little, smoke a little weed. Eventually maybe did a little mushrooms, then maybe a little coke. All over a year or two. Just harmless experimentation right? But who says when the experimentation ends? Since drugs don’t discriminate I felt right at home. And then one day at 16 years old. I tried speed. That’s not crystal meth right? Wrong. I didn’t know this at the time. Till 5 hours later when someone turns to me and says “You know this is crystal meth right?” I look up, shocked and say “What? But I thought this was speed… I swore I would never do crystal meth” He just smiles and says “Does it make you want to stop?” I look back at the pipe and take another hit… Apparently that’s how fast it was for me. 7 Years. 7 Years of drug addiction. Lies, manipulation, loss of dreams, hopes, goals, friends, family. I’ve been clean over 2 years now and nothing will ever reverse the things I lost. And maybe if someone had educated me. Maybe If I knew what I was getting into or maybe if… There are so many ways to continue that line of thought but I can’t stress enough how important I believe it is to really give kids the ability to know what they are getting into before they get into it. Drug education is the best tool to win this war against drugs because those who are educated…. Can make decisions based upon knowledge and not upon “They just told me no.” Because drugs do not discriminate on who they take. And if your loved ones are not educated, they are at risk. Learn more at www.drugfreeworld.org.
If you or someone you love needs help from a drug rehabilitation facility, call our hotline at 1-800-435-2890.
Posted in Drug Abuse Rehabs | Tagged addiction, discrimination, drug abuse, drugs, politics, rehabilitation, treatment abuse
(800) 435-2890
