




Facts
Legal sales of OxyContin skyrocketed. "By 2001, sales had exceeded $1 billion annually, and OxyContin had become the most frequently prescribed brand-name NARCOTIC medication for treating moderate-to-severe pain in the United States," noted researchers for the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) in America's Intelligence Wire. At the same time, the GAO report stated, drug abusers quickly learned that crushing and snorting, eating, or injecting OxyContin could produce a fast high similar to that of heroin. "The safety warning on the label that advised patients not to crush the tablets … may have inadvertently alerted abusers to a possible method for misusing the drug," the report concluded. Today, alcohol is widely available and aggressively promoted throughout society. And alcohol use continues to be regarded, by many people, as a normal part of growing up. Yet underage drinking is dangerous, not only for the drinker but also for society, as evident by the number of alcohol-involved motor vehicle crashes, homicides, suicides, and other injuries. People who begin drinking early in life run the risk of developing serious alcohol problems, including alcoholism, later in life. They also are at greater risk for a variety of adverse consequences, including risky sexual activity and poor performance in school. Identifying adolescents at greatest risk can help stop problems before they develop. And innovative, comprehensive approaches to prevention, are showing success in reducing experimentation with alcohol as well as the problems that accompany alcohol use by young people. Most pregnant teens leave school permanently, especially in low-income communities. Nearly one million teenagers become pregnant each year and 40 percent of these pregnancies end in abortion. A national study found that almost half of the young women had been drinking and/or using drugs at the time of the unplanned pregnancy, and 17 percent of those who carried their babies to term continued to drink and/or use drugs while they were pregnant. This leads to a high incidence of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, a pattern of physical, mental, and behavioral defects which appears in children of mothers who drink during pregnancy. Hospitals report delivering nearly four hundred thousand drug-dependent babies each year. Drug-exposed babies, if they live, often have serious disabilities, both physical and emotional. When the mother uses crack, for instance, the supply of oxygen to the fetus's brain is cut off, causing varying degrees of brain damage. The resulting children are often fearful and suspicious of people and have trouble learning even simple tasks. Long-term users of marijuana may get cancer (particularly lung cancer). Unfortunately many marijuana users are unaware that marijuana smoke contains more cancer-causing agents than tobacco smoke. Regular, persistent marijuana use can also cause both physical and psychological dependency. Tolerance to marijuana (the need to take more and more of the drug over time to get the same original effect) has been shown. People whose bodies have become dependent on marijuana from long-term use and stop taking the drug may feel withdrawal symptoms which include irritability, sleep problems, loss of appetite and weight, sweating and stomach upset. The THC found in marijuana is fat-soluble and is absorbed into many tissues and organs in the body. Laboratory tests have shown traces of THC in the brain, liver, lungs and reproductive organs for up to one month after the marijuana was smoked. |
Alcoholism
Alcoholism, also known as "alcohol dependence," is a condition that includes craving and continued alcohol abuse despite repeated drinking-related problems, such as losing a job or getting into trouble with the law. It includes four major areas: Craving: - A strong need, or compulsion, to drink. Impaired control: -The inability to limit one's drinking on any given occasion. Physical dependence: -Withdrawal symptoms, such as nausea, sweating, shakiness, and anxiety, when alcohol use is stopped after a period of heavy drinking. Tolerance: - The need for increasing amounts of alcohol in order to feel its effects.
Abstinence
Abstinence is the act or practice of refraining from indulging a desire. The type of abstinence we are referring to here is abstinence from drugs and alcohol. This term has two connotations when it comes to abstaining from drugs. The first refers to drug or alcohol treatment programs that aim to help an individual stop using drugs or alcohol for the rest of their lives. The time abstinence is also used in drug education and prevention. It refers to trying to stop children from ever using drugs.
Drug Addiction
Drug addiction is a pattern of repeated drug taking that usually results in tolerance (the need for greater amounts of the drug to achieve the same effect), withdrawal (physical and cognitive effects when drug use declines or stops), and compulsive drug taking behavior (drug taking that persists despite efforts to reduce intake and despite problems with family, friends, and work). Drug addiction encompasses a diverse range of drugs (such as alcohol, cannabis, amphetamines, and cocaine) and is caused by many different factors.
Sobriety
Sobriety means the moderation in or abstinence from consumption of alcoholic liquor or use of drugs. When an individual with an addiction problem enters drug rehabilitation, their main goal is to attain long term sobriety. Unfortunately, sometimes drug addicts and alcoholics find they are able to sustain short periods of sobriety followed by a drug or alcohol relapse. This is why attending a drug or alcohol rehab will help the individual maintain their focus on sobriety. Often, it is only by getting help that individuals with severe drug addiction problems are able to achieve lasting sobriety.
Tolerance
Tolerance to a drug takes place when an individual is exposed to the same drug repeatedly and begins to build up an resistance to the drugs effects. The body then adapts and develops a tolerance for the drug. The addiction that is produced is so powerful that it creates cravings in the user. These cravings for the drug are the result of its impact on the individual's memory with feelings of pleasantness and euphoria which the individual has come to associate with the taking of the drug.
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