Why we're hooked

[coconuts27]

According to the National Survey of Drug Use and Health, an estimated 5.2 million Americans (age 12 or older) reported using prescription opioids non-medically in the past month (SAMHSA, 2007). Opioid abuse is so widespread that it accounts for 75% of all prescription drug abuse in the U.S. (Colliver, Kroutil, Dai, & Gfroerer, 2006). In fact, opioid analgesics reportedly cause more deaths nationwide than either heroin or cocaine (Paulozzi, Budnitz, & Xi, 2006). Birnbaum et al. (2006) estimate that the abuse of prescription opioids costs the U.S. $9.5 billion in 2005 leading some researchers to refer to this problem as a “national epidemic” (Manchikanti, 2006).

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3030470/

[salsinator]

Hi selfinduced.  Do you know where the documentary was shown?  HBO or something like that?  I would like to see it.

[selfinduced]

OMG, They just did a documentary on that guy the other night. Going to get the book this week. Thanks for the info.

[salsinator]

Some interesting facts and comments here.  Thanks for posting.  I read an interesting book a couple of months ago called Pill Head.  It is a first hand account of a guy living in New York who is heavily addicted to pills.  He is an Editor for a magazine and in the book he interviews the head of the DEA and some other organizations and states some astounding facts about opiate abuse.  It was a fantastic book that I could unfortunately relate to.  Quick read, I got it for my Kindle.

[scaredmommy2005]

That is exactly what happened to my dad! He stopped his drug of choice and then one day started to take it again and he took the same amount he used to and had a massive heart attack in our driveway.

[selfinduced]

A guy on here said the other day (free2goodhome), that we are all on death row while using....when we quit we get pardoned. As above poster said, we may function on these pills, but it's a slow kill if your lucky. Just with the amount of tylenol our liver takes a hit daily. Then the accidental overdose is another problem. We quit, our tolerance lowers, we relapse at our previous usage and our bodies can no longer handle the amount.

[weaver71]

Epidemic seems conservative. It's a plague. 95% of all opioids produced in the world are consumed in The United States. It took politicians, lawyers, and doctors getting addicted for people to admit that opioids are a snare. Nobody says, "I want to be an opioid addict some day." It's accidental suicide. Even as we go about our business, we are dead.