B
ecause the medication was prescribed and David needed relief from his pain, he had no idea that he would become
an addict. Primed in his youth and with legitimate pain in his boomer years, David becomes an addict. Everyone addicted to pain medication has their own story, but most will agree that the journey to get clean is long and painful. Juan Harris, MBA, MS, ICADC,
Assistant Executive Director at Recovery Ways Treatment Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, has coined the phrase “accidental addict” to explain the fact that over 12 million older adults suffer from some sort of chemical dependency in the nation. Shaky hands, memory lapses, long aſternoon naps, and even incontinence: are these signs of aging or something else? Te fact is that many prescription drugs remain in household cabinets long aſter medicine management has been completed. As innocent as that may seem, it opens the possibility for abuse by the former patient and others. Patients will oſten tell me they knew that they should have disposed of their medication but they thought they should “hold on” to them in case they are needed in the future. Mr. Harris, one of the country’s leading experts on older adults and addiction, talks about this as a hidden epidemic and a widespread, life- threatening problem that is vastly under recognized and under treated. Doctors routinely prescribe tranquilizers and pain medications to older adults and more than 25 million prescriptions are writen every year. Prescription drug addiction is emerging, second only to alcohol, as the drug of abuse in the older population. Mr. Harris states, “Based on my experience, older adults have the best results of any age group in responding to treatment. Tis is due, in part, on the values they espouse: honesty, commited work ethic, responsibility, integrity, and respect for
30 datia focus
authority” (Harris, personal communication 2013). One interesting paradox to their core value, respect for authority, is that older adults do not question doctors prescriptions for addictive medications. Consequently, aſter developing addiction problems secondary to prescription medications, older adults are offended when they are referred to as “addicts.” To them, addict represents someone from a criminalized younger group.
...Because our bodies can build up a tolerance, greater and greater amounts of these powerful drugs are needed to obtain the same effect. Eventually, people can become overly dependent on these drugs, which can have a very negative effect on their quality of life.
Today, millions of Americans suffer from
all kinds of physical ailments that cause them serious pain. Tey are in need of pain management to help them function and are oſten prescribed appropriate medications to help them cope with and manage their condition. However, because our bodies can build up a tolerance, greater and greater amounts of these powerful drugs are needed to obtain the same effect. Eventually, people can become overly dependent on these drugs, which can have a very negative effect on their quality of life. Prescription drug abuse is the nation’s
fastest-growing drug problem and the accidental addict that Mr. Harris describes,
can happen at all ages and in all lifestyles. In addition to older adults, one population that seem to be at the highest risk for prescription drug abuse youth. Prescription drugs are becoming the deadliest gateway drugs for our young people today. Studies show that a large percentage of youth began by using prescription drugs non-medically for the first time. And, as with all gateway drugs, this can lead to a future risk of using more dangerous, hard drugs. Te population entering the
workforce—people 18- to 25-years- old—is another one of the groups showing an increased rate of prescription drug use. One of the areas of greatest concern for treatment professionals is the number of workers that are addicted to pain medications. Te rate of increased prescription drug use has become a public health issue and a concern to employers. Results of the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health showed that of the estimated 19.3 million illicit drug users who were 18 or older at the time of the survey, 66.6 percent were employed either full or part time. According to a National Survey on
Drug Use and Health in 2009, more than five million Americans misused prescription painkillers in a one-month period.1
“Daily, 50 people in our nation
die from unintentional prescription opioid overdoses and daily 20 times that number are admited to hospital emergency departments for opioid overdoses,” said John Eadie, director of the Prescription Monitoring Program Center of Excellence at Brandeis University.2
As outrageous as
that sounds, a huge majority—more than 70 percent—of those prescriptions were from friends and relatives.3 Tere are many reasons for the rapid
and growing abuse of prescription drugs. One is how easily accessible the drugs are from doctors, family and friends; the other is the diminished perception of risk while taking these legal drugs, aſter all, many
fall 2013
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