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LOUISIANA
- Drug rehabs
throughout the country are not created equally.
It is important to get all the information
possible when it comes to drug rehabilitation
facilities and their treatment methods.
State to state,
prescription abuse issues vary. However,
prescription drug abuse overall has been
soaring. More readily available, and with the
misconception that if a doctor has prescribed
it, then it must be safe, more and more people
are abusing and becoming addicted to prescribed
medications.
The DEA1 (United
States Drug Enforcement Administration) reports
that the abuse of pharmaceutical drugs continues
to rise at an alarming rate. Law enforcement
officials report OxyContin, hydrocodone and
Xanax abuse continues to be a viable threat.
Pharmaceutical drugs are diverted as a means of
distribution into the illicit market. Abusers
and distributors acquire pharmaceutical drugs
via prescription forgeries and/or “doctor
shopping” in the diversion process. Some of the
diverted pharmaceutical drugs are brought into
Louisiana from Mexico and Southwestern Border
cities usually by Caucasian local independent
distributors. Many abusers utilize the Internet
to obtain prescription drugs from sources
throughout the United States, Europe, Canada,
and the Caribbean. Methadone overdoses have
risen significantly in the past few years. Pain
management clinics have opened in every major
city in the state and pose an enormous threat to
the communities; however, after a major seizure
in late 2005, the threat in the New Orleans area
has reduced. The pain management clinics that
are illegally prescribing narcotics to addicts
are considered a “pill mill.” Louisiana has
instituted new laws for opening pain management
clinics in an effort to curtail the threat in
the communities.
In the 2004 Drug
Abuse Patterns and Trends in Louisiana2
report, the state reported, "Prescription opiate
abuse indicators continued to increase
throughout Louisiana. The most commonly reported
prescription opiates abused were hydrocodone,
oxycodone, and illicit methadone. Although the
proportions of 2003 treatment admissions
reporting prescription drug abuse were
relatively low, admissions for abuse of these
substances increased in MHSD, Regions III and V,
and FPHSA, and deaths involving mentions of
narcotic analgesics were up sharply in MHSD
compared with 1997. In some clinics in FPHSA,
other opiates and synthetics have become the
third most popular substance of choice."
"Diverted pharmaceuticals have historically been
a problem in the NOFD and continue to be a major
threat. Users do not view the abuse of diverted
pharmaceuticals in the same light as the abuse
of more illicit drugs. “Doctor shopping,” or
going from one doctor to another, is a way
abusers obtain multiple prescriptions for
drugs."
MedScape Today
published a report from Steven D. Passik, PhD
featuring highlights of American Academy of Pain
Medicine's 23rd Annual Meeting held in New
Orleans, Louisiana. Entitled, New Findings in
Misuse and Abuse of Medications and Addiction3,
the report stated, Fitzgerald and colleagues3
reported on interesting ethnographic field work
from a series of 258 interviews of key
informants (physicians, law enforcement, drug
abuse treatment staff) in areas with high rates
of prescription opioid abuse. This work helps to
enrich the interpretation of statistics and
quantitative work by identifying important
themes. The themes identified in this study
included the fact that hydrocodone and oxycodone
were reported to be the most abused and diverted
opioids, that use is most common in rural areas
and on the rise in teens, and that these drugs
are perceived as safer than illicit drugs by
abusers. Law enforcement has been forced in some
of these highly problematic areas to divert
resources from prescription drug abuse to the
growing problem of methamphetamine abuse.
 One thing is for certain, for
the drug addict of prescription medications, the
dwindling spiral will continue on its downward
path unless action is taken. NOW is the time to
do something before the addicted person winds up
in jail or dead of an overdose or accident.
Unfortunately past failed attempts to overcome
addiction only further depress the individual so
it comes as no surprise that fear and
hesitation.
In the state of Louisiana there is an increased
need for effective drug and alcohol rehab and
addiction treatment centers as drug and alcohol
use continues to escalate. Drug use erodes the
quality of life not only for the user, but for
their families and communities. Marriages and
families are torn apart by mistrust, betrayal,
fear and anger. Careers are ruined; companies
lose millions of dollars in lost production
time; cities and suburbs become degraded by the
increased crime and violence that goes with drug
trafficking and drug addiction.
From city to suburb to rural life, drug and
alcohol use and abuse continues to undermine the
quality of life for Louisiana citizens. To do
nothing for the addict, should not be an option.
Something can be done; help is available.
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