Switching From Pain-Killers to Heroin

Drug Rehab Warns of Dangers Opiod Addiction

Atlanta, GA 9/24/2008 06:42 PM GMT (FINDITT)

Heroin abusers, in TV and movies, have been depicted as low-life street dwellers, living in some dark hovel, shooting up and doing what it takes to get their next fix.

The perception is changing.

“We are seeing a lot of people coming into our drug rehab who were model citizens,” comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director of Narconon Drug Rehab GA. “We have had school teachers, salesmen, lawyers, professionals: the pillars of society have walked through our doors seeking help for their drug addiction.

“In many cases, they didn’t have a significant prior history of drug abuse. They were prescribed a pain killer, OxyContin, Percocet, for example, to treat some physical pain. They took these too long, becoming addicted to them. When they couldn’t afford any more Oxy’s or Percocets, they went to the next best thing- Heroin.”

Heroin is a synthetic opiate drug that is highly addictive. It is made from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky substance, known as “black tar heroin.”

“From law-abiding citizen to someone cruising the streets looking for heroin is a long drop,” comments Ms. Rieser. “If you feel you or someone you know is abusing OxyContin or other painkillers, get them help fast. You don’t always get a second chance.”

With regular heroin use, tolerance develops. This means the abuser must use more heroin to achieve the same intensity of effect. Eventually, this leads to addiction.

Withdrawal is so painful, that the addict will do anything to stop the pain.

If someone you know is drug addicted, call us.  We have a 76% success rate.

We are Narconon – The New Life Program.

Call Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia at 1-877-413-3073.
      

Copyright © 2008 Narconon of Georgia Inc. (www.drugsno.com) All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better living and Education International and are used with its permission. Narconon of Georgia is a non-profit 501© public benefit corporation.

Heroin: Abuse Still Strong

Drug Rehab Warns Heroin Abuse Still Strong

Atlanta, GA 9/24/2008 06:54 PM GMT (FINDITT)

Despite the rise in prescription drug abuse, heroin is still something to contend with, warns Narconon Drug Rehab GA.

“We have seen more people coming for help for heroin abuse because of the rise in prescription pain killer abuse, and the high volume of heroin coming from the Middle East,” comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director for Narconon Drug Rehab GA. “People get addicted to prescription pain killers and then turn to heroin because it is cheaper.

“What is heroin and how does heroin addiction affect people? Find out the facts and avoid being one of the victims of heroin addiction.”

Heroin is a synthetic opiate drug that is highly addictive. It is made from morphine, a naturally occurring substance extracted from the seed pod of the Asian opium poppy plant. Heroin usually appears as a white or brown powder or as a black sticky substance, known as “black tar heroin.”

How is Heroin Abused?

Heroin can be injected, snorted/sniffed, or smoked—routes of administration that rapidly deliver the drug to the brain. Injecting is the use of a needle to release the drug directly into the bloodstream. Snorting is the process of inhaling heroin powder through the nose, where it is absorbed into the bloodstream through the nasal tissues. Smoking involves inhaling heroin smoke into the lungs. All three methods of administering heroin can lead to addiction and other severe health problems.

How Does Heroin Affect User?

After an intravenous injection of heroin, users report feeling a surge of euphoria (“rush”) accompanied by dry mouth, a warm flushing of the skin, and a heaviness of the extremities. Following this initial euphoria, the user goes “on the nod,” an alternately wakeful and drowsy state. Mental functioning becomes clouded. Users who do not inject the drug may not experience the initial rush, but other effects are the same.

With regular heroin use, tolerance develops. This means the abuser must use more heroin to achieve the same intensity of effect. Eventually, this can lead to drug addiction.

What Other Adverse Effects Does Heroin Have on Health?

Heroin abuse is associated with serious health conditions, including fatal overdose, spontaneous abortion, and—particularly in users who inject the drug—infectious diseases, including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis. Chronic users may develop collapsed veins, infection of the heart lining and valves, abscesses, and liver or kidney disease.

Pulmonary complications, including various types of pneumonia, may result from the poor health of the abuser, as well as from heroin’s depressing effects on respiration. In addition to the effects of the drug itself, street heroin often contains toxic contaminants or additives that can clog the blood vessels leading to the lungs, liver, kidneys, or brain, causing permanent damage to vital organs.

Chronic use of heroin leads to physical dependence, a state in which the body has adapted to the presence of the drug. If a dependent user reduces or stops use of the drug abruptly, they may experience severe symptoms of withdrawal.

These symptoms, which can begin as early as a few hours after the last drug administration, include restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea and vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps (“cold turkey”), kicking movements (“kicking the habit”), and other symptoms. Users also experience severe craving for the drug during withdrawal, precipitating continued abuse and/or relapse.

Major withdrawal symptoms peak between 48 and 72 hours after the last dose and typically subside after about a week; however, some individuals may show persistent withdrawal symptoms for months. Although heroin withdrawal is considered less dangerous than alcohol or barbiturate withdrawal, sudden withdrawal by heavily dependent users who are in poor health is occasionally fatal.

Heroin abuse during pregnancy, together with related factors like poor nutrition and inadequate prenatal care, has been associated with adverse consequences including low birthweight, an important risk factor for later developmental delay. If the mother is regularly abusing the drug, the infant may be born physically dependent on heroin and could suffer from serious medical complications requiring hospitalization.

Monitoring the Future Survey

According to the 2007 Monitoring the Future survey, there were no significant changes since 2006 in the proportion of students in 8th, 10th, and 12th grades reporting lifetime, past-year, and past-month use of heroin overall.

Heroin use has been steadily declining since the mid-1990s. Recent peaks in heroin use were observed in 1996 for 8th-graders, 1997–2000 for 10th-graders, and 2000 for 12th-graders. Annual prevalence of heroin use in 2007 dropped significantly, by between 38 percent and 40 percent, from these recent peak use years for each grade surveyed.
National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

According to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the number of current (past-month) heroin users in the United States increased from 136,000 in 2005 to 338,000 in 2006. The corresponding prevalence rate increased from 0.06 to 0.14 percent. There were 91,000 first-time users of heroin aged 12 or older in 2006, down from 108,000 reported in 2005. Among persons aged 12 to 49, the average age at first use of heroin was 20.7 years.

Source: NIDA

If someone you know is drug addicted, call us.  We have a 76% success rate.

We are Narconon – The New Life Program.

Call Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia at 1-877-413-3073.
      
Copyright © 2008 Narconon of Georgia Inc. (www.drugsno.com) All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better living and Education International and are used with its permission. Narconon of Georgia is a non-profit 501© public benefit corporation.

Club Drugs - MDMA, or Ecstacy

MDMA/Ecstacy Facts

Atlanta, GA 9/24/2008 05:45 AM GMT (FINDITT)

If your teen has gone clubbing, and comes back obviously intoxicated, does this mean they have been drinking?

Not necessarily, according to Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia. They may be tripping on Ecstacy, known as XTC, X, Adam, hug, beans, or the love drug.

“MDMA, or Ecstasy, is being used worldwide to get high,” comments Mary Rieser, Executive Director of Narconon Drug Rehab GA. “Clandestine labs in third world countries make Ecstacy, and ship it to Europe and the US.

“Originally Ecstacy was touted as a ‘safe’ drug, but this could not be further from the truth. Ecstacy addiction can be very harmful. Learn the facts.”

MDMA (3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a synthetic, psychoactive drug that is chemically similar to the stimulant methamphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline. It produces an energizing effect as well as feelings of euphoria, emotional warmth, and distortions in time perception and tactile experiences.

How is MDMA Abused?

MDMA is taken orally as a capsule or tablet. It was initially popular among white adolescents and young adults in the nightclub scene or at weekend-long dance parties known as raves. However, the profile of the typical MDMA user has changed, and the drug now affects a broader range of ethnic groups. MDMA is also popular among urban gay males—some report using MDMA as part of a multiple-drug experience that includes marijuana, cocaine, methamphetamine, ketamine, and other legal and illegal substances.

How does MDMA Affect the Person?

MDMA can produce confusion, depression, sleep problems, drug craving, and severe anxiety. These problems can occur soon after taking the drug or, sometimes, even days or weeks after taking MDMA. In addition, chronic users of MDMA perform more poorly than nonusers on certain types of cognitive or memory tasks, although some of these effects may be due to the use of other drugs in combination with MDMA.

Research in animals indicates that MDMA can be harmful to the brain—one study in nonhuman primates showed that exposure to MDMA for only 4 days caused damage to serotonin nerve terminals that was still evident 6 to 7 years later.1 Although similar neurotoxicity has not been shown definitively in humans, the wealth of animal research indicating MDMA’s damaging properties strongly suggests that MDMA is not a safe drug for human consumption. This is currently an area of active research.

Addictive Potential

For some people, MDMA can be addictive. A survey of young adult and adolescent MDMA users found that 43 percent of those who reported ecstasy use met the accepted diagnostic criteria for dependence, as evidenced by continued use despite knowledge of physical or psychological harm, withdrawal effects, and tolerance (or diminished response).

These results are consistent with those of similar studies in other countries that also suggest a high rate of MDMA dependence among users. MDMA abstinence-associated withdrawal symptoms include fatigue, loss of appetite, depressed feelings, and trouble concentrating.

What Other Adverse Effects does MDMA Have on Health?

MDMA can also be dangerous to overall health and, on rare occasions, lethal. MDMA can have many of the same physical effects as other stimulants such as cocaine and amphetamines.

These include increases in heart rate and blood pressure, which present risks of particular concern for people with circulatory problems or heart disease; and other symptoms such as muscle tension, involuntary teeth clenching, nausea, blurred vision, faintness, and chills or sweating.

In high doses, MDMA can interfere with the body’s ability to regulate temperature. On rare but unpredictable occasions, this can lead to a sharp increase in body temperature (hyperthermia), which can result in liver, kidney, and cardiovascular system failure, and death. MDMA can interfere with its own metabolism (breakdown within the body); therefore, potentially harmful levels can be reached by repeated MDMA administration within short periods of time.

Other drugs that are chemically similar to MDMA, such as MDA (methylenedioxyamphetamine, the parent drug of MDMA) and PMA (paramethoxyamphetamine, associated with fatalities in the United States and Australia), are sometimes also sold as ecstasy.

These drugs can be neurotoxic or create additional health risks to the user. Furthermore, ecstasy tablets may be adulterated with other substances, such as ephedrine (a stimulant); dextromethorphan (DXM, a cough suppressant); ketamine (an anesthetic used mostly by veterinarians); caffeine; cocaine; and methamphetamine. Although the combination of MDMA with one or more of these drugs may be inherently dangerous, users might also combine these with other substances such as marijuana and alcohol, putting themselves at even higher risk.

How Widespread is MDMA Abuse?

Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey
 
Between 2005 and 2007, past-year abuse of MDMA increased among 12th-graders, from 3.0 percent to 4.5 percent; and between 2004 and 2007, past-year abuse of MDMA increased among 10th-graders, from 2.4 percent to 3.5 percent.

For the third year in a row, the younger students surveyed reported a slightly weaker attitude about the risks associated with MDMA use. The proportion of 8th-graders who perceived risk of harm from using MDMA “occasionally” decreased significantly, from 52.0 percent in 2006 to 48.6 percent in 2007; this proportion also fell significantly among 10th-graders, from 71.3 percent in 2006 to 68.2 percent in 2007. Perceived risk of MDMA use remained unchanged for 12th-graders from 2006 to 2007.
National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH)

In 2006, an estimated 528,000 people (0.2 percent of the population) in the United States age 12 or older used MDMA in the month prior to being surveyed. Lifetime use increased among individuals aged 12 years or older, from 4.3 percent in 2002 to 5.0 percent in 2006; however, past-year use of ecstasy decreased from 1.3 percent to 0.9 percent during the same 5-year period. Approximately 860,000 Americans used ecstasy for the first time in 2006, which is a significant increase from the 615,000 first-time users reported in 2005. Most (70.1 percent) of these new users were 18 or older; and among past-year initiates aged 12 to 49, the average age at initiation in 2006 was 20.6 years.

Source: NIDA

If someone you know is drug addicted, call us.  We have a 76% success rate.

We are Narconon – The New Life Program.

Call Narconon Drug Rehab in Georgia at 1-877-413-3073.
      
Copyright © 2008 Narconon of Georgia Inc. (www.drugsno.com) All rights reserved. Narconon and the Narconon Logo are trademarks and service marks owned by the Association for Better living and Education International and are used with its permission. Narconon of Georgia is a non-profit 501© public benefit corporation.