The "hidden" epidemic of prescription drugs

[Yeti101]

The hidden epidemic of prescription drugs

By Matt Carney for Four Corners

Experts fear Australia faces a new drug epidemic, and the source is not the warlords of Afghanistan or bikie gangs, but your local doctor or chemist.

Prescription opioids are fast replacing heroin, cocaine and ice as the drug of choice in the illicit markets.

On the streets of Kings Cross, users are injecting them at nearly twice the rate of heroin.

"It's the hidden heroin. It's pure heroin in a pill," said one addict.

But it is in the towns and suburbs where prescription opioids are silently taking a hold and having the greatest impact.

Everyday people who are being prescribed opioid pills such as Oxycontin, MS Contin and OxyNorm are becoming hooked, and a whole new generation of addicts is being created.

Ruth Arrigo's story is typical. She was a busy mother raising two sons, and her problems started when she strained her back working in a supermarket.

Her pain persisted and nothing seemed to help until her doctor prescribed OxyNorm.

She did not know much about the drugs but soon she had a raging habit.

"It's actually like being an addict of anything, whether it's heroin or gambling or alcohol, you look for it all the time," she said.

Ruth's addiction began to destroy her life and family, and she took an overdose of OxyNorm to end her life.

"I never want to go back there, and what you go through it's horrible," she said.

"You do get to the stage where you want to end your life because it gets on top of you."

Ms Arrigo got help and now her life is back on track, but many other Australians are not so lucky.

Sydney University's Professor Nick Lintzeris says there could be as many as 100,000 people who are addicted to the powerful painkillers.

Addiction specialist Professor Jon Currie says the problem is that GPs do not have the time or the skills to treat chronic pain properly.

"A tablet will fix everything is not the answer," said Professor Currie, who has started a campaign to educate GPs about the dangers of prescription opioids.

"The answer is to talk to the person and see what would be best for them, and often it's not a tablet and particularly not Oxycontin."

Prescription opioids are also taking a hold among recreational users, and often with fatal consequences.

Just over two weeks ago, Oxycontin took another casualty - Neumann Friar, 37, who went on a week's holiday to visit his girlfriend in Surfers Paradise.

The father of two made the fatal mistake of combining alcohol, valium and Oxycontin and died of an overdose.

His grieving parents, Richard and Wendy Friar, want some answers.

They believe Neumann had no idea how potent Oxycontin is and they want to know why it was so easy for their son to get the drugs.

"I know that Neumann would not be dead if he didn't get these tablets, and the reason he's dead is that in an opportunistic way he was able to find a doctor who wrote him a prescription," Mrs Friar said.

Health professionals say there is a solution - real-time monitoring of opioid prescription.

At the moment users can doctor shop, meaning they can go to different doctors to obtain several scripts and get the pills from chemists with no-one being the wiser.

Kos Sclavos, head of the Pharmacy Guild of Australia, says real-time monitoring will alert both doctors and pharmacists to potential misuse and abuse of the powerful medications.

"We're probably talking about hundreds of Australians perhaps losing their life to misuse of these products, when something could have been done to avoid this," he said.

Experts warn that unless a detailed response is developed soon, this potential drug epidemic may not be stopped.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/27/3022347.htm

[Auxin]

Really its a shame that opioids alone get this press.. the same thing is happening with benzodiazapines and various antidepressants, anti-psychotics, etc. I've known many illicit drug dealers but the only drug pushers I've ever known were doctors pushing crap like oxycodone, clonazepam, and gabapentin on the unsuspecting patients. They know full well that getting patients addicted is fast cash, it takes no work, the doctors get $80 a month just for signing the script. In private doctors and pharmacists here call oxycodone their 'cash cow'.

There needs to be industry reform but more than anything the public needs to be educated. We're all warned about the evil heroin pushers but not about the evil xanax pushers.

"It's the hidden heroin. It's pure heroin in a pill," said one addict.

Over here they call it hillbilly heroin, and for good reason.

[ref1ect1ons]

Health professionals say there is a solution - real-time monitoring of opioid prescription.

I think the solution has more to do with ending the insanity of the 24/7 work work work society. Once people learn to relax every so often they wont need drugs to 'carry' them through the day.

[Bread Filter]

That was interesting to watch. Thanks for posting that Yeti

[mescalito]

I only caught about 10 mins and then my mate rang,but I'll watch it on iview,not that I don't already know this I'm sure.

I can't seem to find a link to the Sunday Telegraph's article if anyone has it or read it,basically all this shit is rising to the surface like real fucken fast thank "insert here ;-)" !

Page 50 Sept 26 2010 Sunday Agenda "Generation Medication"

This goes into the Benzo side of things as well and has brought the attention to the mainstream pretty well done IMO,especially the fact that Xanax is harder and worse to get off than Heroin and that housewives back around the 1970's became (and stil are!) victims of a mass dumming down of society based on fear..... a fear by enforcing that fear is wrong and that pills will help with your so called (programmed) "imbalance"...also that once hooked whether it be opiates or benzo's,that you lose yourself and all that entails.

I recently watched a doco called "Methodonia" and I can only be happy in the fact that as I said,this is being reported for all to see. Unfortunately this shit has been too readily accessible/over-prescribed and under-estimated due to bottle-necking,kick-backs and distraction en-mass,even to the point where "Doctor Shopping" is STILL rife and the side-effects have been well documented for as long as I've walked the earth;and also that now after 30+ years we might just sit back and start to question....it could have taken longer if we didn't question and be honest right here!

I'm a Gen "X" and somehow part of "Y" because we are connected by the brainwashing.

Pills are the first noticeable one,a little late for my liking but lot's more to come IMHO.

[FancyPants]

Damn I meant to watch that, I'll watch it now on the link provided thanks Yeti

I can't seem to find a link to the Sunday Telegraph's article if anyone has it or read it,basically all this shit is rising to the surface like real fucken fast thank "insert here ;-)" !

Page 50 Sept 26 2010 Sunday Agenda "Generation Medication"

 

Is that the article that was in the ST magazine or health section of the paper? If it is, I read that one too, and very happy - and somewhat surprised - they used examples of benzos as well and not just opioids.

[TG83]

IMO anti-depressants and anti-psychotics being prescribed for everything instead of the older traditional route (short term benzo + therapy) is a lot more damaging.

I've only just come off that medication now, I can tell you honestly I've been completely robbed of the 2 years I lost while on them. They are a cover up solution which might work for what the doctors want them for initially, but from a human side having such blunt and fake emotion for so long without much knowledge of the fact is far more damaging.

Can see the reason people are rarely removed from these medications too when it's "working", the amount of life's experiences I've missed out on is much more depressing than the reasons I was put on them in the first place. Somehow these kind of things are swept under the carpet though all because the drugs themselves aren't psychologically addictive or able to be abused

Addiction is one thing most people know of, but robbing people of one aspect of their sanity in exchange for another is in a way the exact same thing

[faustus]

when i was in san fran earlier this year, there was a 100m stretch of a street in the ghetto, whose name escapes me, that totally shocked me. it was essentially an open air market for prescription drugs, mainly opiates and benzos. homeless and poor folk slinging morphine tablets for $4, oxycodone 80s for $40-50 (still don't understand the price disparity). xanax for like $2-3 a tab.

totally made king's x look like a trip to the ice cream parlour for some wholesome family fun.

IMO anti-depressants and anti-psychotics being prescribed for everything instead of the older traditional route (short term benzo + therapy) is a lot more damaging.

one mistake people make, particularly with psychological problems, is thinking that the solutions to their problems can be generalised to others with a vaguely similar problem. so you feel that antidepressants robbed you of quality of life -- don't assume they don't work for others. also, where do antipsychotics fit into the equation, as in treating schizophrenia and bipolar? don't even go there gurlfriend!

[TG83]

I've got no doubt for some people they are the answer, but going through schizophrenia personally for 7 years it's been a nightmare. Med's definitely helped initially, but a lot of doctors will just feed the meds for every problem, disregarding the need for psychological help due to it being "a genetic disease".

Not saying everyone should not take medication, especially if they have clear benefit, but obviously if there is problems then something needs to be done, There is many in the society with the illness who have developed the ability to still function well without them, my family alone is a clear example of that, 3 of us are schizophrenic by definition, but the alternate / combination routes to coping seems to be overlooked by 90%+ of doctors, personally I don't see that as a good thing for the future

[blog]

when i was in san fran earlier this year, there was a 100m stretch of a street in the ghetto, whose name escapes me, that totally shocked me. it was essentially an open air market for prescription drugs, mainly opiates and benzos. homeless and poor folk slinging morphine tablets for $4, oxycodone 80s for $40-50 (still don't understand the price disparity). xanax for like $2-3 a tab.

 

In the USA I've been noticing for many years how socially acceptable oxycodone, hydromorphone & Xanax abuse is from how regularly a popular character in a tv series, or maybe a real tv/radio personality talks openly about their use of the drugs recreationally rather than therapeuticly, normally in a throw away line. It's always struck me as ridiculous how these medicines are considered sexy by mainstream america & associated with being rich, famous and successful & yet if the character/real person was talking about popping morphine tablets or valium, then their image would likely be tarnished. Well not so much with valium, but xanax seems to be the 'cool' benzo that scripwriters choose to add to a line of dialogue & also popular with celebrities

I've quietly wondered if the pharmaceutical companies were behind it, It's pretty good marketing when you see Dr House (from tv series House) pops a few oxycontins to help him get through his day, not for pain relief just to help him relax. Xanax is also a drug that's become hugely popular in Australia compared to 10 years ago & once again is it just a coincidence there are so many mentions of it's name in American comedy/drama.

Anyway that 4corners doco was pretty interesting. Never knew you could dr shop for schedule8 pain killers, & never knew you could be prescribed oxycodone by seeing a dr you/ve never seen before without & without even being examined. Would have liked to have known that before this tv show air'd. Meanwhile I"m seeing a fuckwit dr that won't prescribe me Tramadol for IBS, the only effective medication I've tried. I'd sure like to see a 4corners doco about the epidemic that is TRAMADOL ADDICTION!!!!!!

[faustus]

haven't seen the doco yet, but will over the weekend.

i reckon the prescription drug thing has to do with a few things that makes rx drugs more attractive than street drugs:

price -- they're usually a lot cheaper

avoid stigma/issues of IV use -- they're strong even when taken orally (heroin et al are poorly absorbed orally)

purity -- you're getting pharmaceutical grade shit

don't need to be immersed in the drug world -- no risked of getting ripped off or being involved in violence, etc

so perhaps this all stems as a consequence of the prohibition of hard drugs???

I've quietly wondered if the pharmaceutical companies were behind it, It's pretty good marketing when you see Dr House (from tv series House) pops a few oxycontins to help him get through his day, not for pain relief just to help him relax.

LOL i love house. i've always kinda seen him as a modern day sherlock holmes, using obscure symptoms to piece together and solve a diagnosis. in the original novels, sherlock holmes was an IV coke user... just figured house's use of opiates was mirroring holmes'.

in the show, house is using the oxys semi-recreationally, in that he becomes hooked as a consequence of a leg injury. but i don't think his addiction isn't completely glorified... there's a lot of episodes of him going through withdrawal when his supply is cut off.

a lot of doctors will just feed the meds for every problem, disregarding the need for psychological help due to it being "a genetic disease".

that's cos twin studies have demontrated that schizophrenia is ~80% genetic. there's also inconsistent evidence that CBT has much impact on schizophrenia http://www2.cochrane...n/ab000524.html

is it possible that you were misdiagnosed or have mild symptoms? because my two schizophrenic friends have generally slipped into psychosis within 1-2 weeks of not taking their antipsychotics.

i've taken antipsychotics several times to get to sleep. they're fuct medications and i think before anyone prescribes them they should be forced to take them themselves.

Edited September 28, 2010 by faustus

[TG83]

Definitely not mild, was hospitalised for a month the previous time. My Aunty was also in an institution for 7 years, refused medication the entire time and forced them to talk about all the problems instead, she was still given electric shock therapy as that wasn't an elective treatment back then, it was compulsory.

Basically she found some major triggers in her personality and mindset that were prone to set off paranoid thinking, which then lead to relapse into schizophrenia. In finding ways to deal with those she has been able to avoid a relapse for 30 years now, it did however take around 100 sessions in total over those years and some $10,000.

I've also got a friend who runs a very big and successful business, bringing in over $120k a year. He has schizophrenia as such, but himself has identified his own triggers and has developed ways to cope around them, he has minor relapses every 6 months, but finds ways to counteract them and carry on. No doctor currently knows of his issues as he is not willing to disclose that information to them either, personally I know it's true because I've seen his relapses a few previous times, but the speed in which he can counteract them is quite amazing.

I think there is a genetic component to the episodes themselves, but the relapse also can be brought on much sooner if strategies aren't created to deal with the major triggers in the first place. I was a part of a schizophrenia research organisation for 3 years, did many clinical trials and took part in many studies. Most of them were on alternate strategies, vitamin / mineral supplementation, CBT / Psychotherapy and most importantly Stress management.

They found that in almost all cases, stress is the factor that will push someone prone to schizophrenia into a relapse or episode, by minimising stress as much as possible the chances for relapse were around 50% within the first year without medication, and less than 5% for those taking medication, compared to 80% without stress management training and no medication and 20% with medication alone.

The susceptibility to the illness could very well be genetic, but the lead up can be attributed most times to stress that either hasn't been dealt with previously or that builds up over time. Some people can cope with high stress for a very long period of time and suffer nothing more than the effects of high stress alone, where as for 1% of the population that will push them into a serious psychotic episode.

There is already a movement for change in policy happening at the moment with major psychological organisations proving this kind of research and pushing for psychologists to receive training in dispensing and issuing medications, so the two can be combined and treatment made as effective as possible, as opposed to the current situation where GP's and Psychiatrists are the ones writing the scripts

[toast]

I wish I saw this show.

I've been on Endone & Oxycontin for about 10 weeks, and can definitely feel the strangle hold tightening.

Any tips for getting off them?

cheers

[hebrew]

I wish I saw this show.

I've been on Endone & Oxycontin for about 10 weeks, and can definitely feel the strangle hold tightening.

Any tips for getting off them?

send them to me

nah seriously just gotta cut back slowly i reckon, dont get stuck in the habit of taking all the time, say you are on 20mg a day, keep it there for a while, then make it 15mg, keep it there, then after a month or so, take it to 10mg and so on, then maybe get some codiene to end up, depends why you are on them i guess.

i dont know others here are better and giving advice for withdrwals

im currently trying to taper my clonazapam dose but it seems to be going up so im not the best one to talk to i guess

interesting conversation going on here, i think as they are pharma drugs, you are getting a wider selection of the community getting addicted to them as well, people who would never go out and look for heroin or whatever.

personally i wish i could get oxy easily from the doctor cause they are effective pain treatment, codiene just doesnt do the job when it comes to pain relief for me, i dont know why, maybe cuase i have had opiate use for years and years now, in many forms?

ive recently fucked my knee and i been putting up with the pain, but im going to have to go back and get some more pain relief, it seems at the doctors where i go, they prefer to give tramadol before forte, and are very reluctant to give oxy, they gave it once to me and i made the mistake of saying how addictive that shit is, and he noted it down so i guess they will never give it to me again.

funny thing i was in the city yesterday, and these business people walked past, they were having some conversation and this is what i heard of it

" yeah, well its a morphine based pain killer...." i immediately thought oxy, hes gotta be talking about, but i remember the days when you mentioned morphine and you were looked at like some hard core drug abuser.

[FancyPants]

Just to be nitpicky House is addicted to Vicodin (hydrocodone), but I don't feel they glorify it at all. His character was given a Ketamine treatment to reset his pain which worked for a few months. Perhaps a few interested watchers might read up more on ketamine treatments and get help?

As for tramadol, it's definitely interesting isn't it? How could it not with a profile like

[Tramadol possesses weak agonist actions at the μ-opioid receptor, releases serotonin, and inhibits the reuptake of norepinephrine/quote] even if they are weak? I've made them feel like a weak E pill, or a weak opiate depending on mood and mindset. I used them a lot for a little while, but then I didn't like the random twitches I'd get on higher doses. So I stopped them and found codeine instead. Rinse and repeat... I quit abusing both, but still use them and will continue to use them while I need pain relief.

This article also hardly addresses the issue of tolerance. While people may actually stick to their prescribed dosages, most drugs have tolerances which will eventually affect the person on them. What to do then; remain in pain or use more of the drugs? Geeeee, let me think... I once had to put up with kidney stone pain plus the pain of the ureteric stents they'd put in to help ease the problem (which only helped the smaller stones) for four or five months until I was able to finally get the lithotripsy treatment I needed to smash the big stones. Endone 5mgs one a day, and (the one time they gave me a rx for it) oxycontin 10mgs, they just don't cut that kind of pain. The Endones are quick but don't last very long, the OCs last long enough but don't cut the pain enough. I once drove myself to the local hospital after having had tramadol and 25mg of the Endones and the pain was awful because I'd gone swimming earlier in the day and the ureteric stents are like plastic tubes poking into your soft insides every time you bend. I asked the ER for morphine or something and they made me wait around an hour or so - I guess to make sure I was serious - and then they gave me a good dose.

As Dr House said, "I don't have a pain management problem; I have a pain problem."

[mescalito]

@ Fancypants:Dunno which part of the paper it was but this is it:

Quick phone snap sorry.

VelvetSiren: Upping ya dose of Clonaz especially is as I spose you know going to make things worse and more protracted...guess that's tolerance hey,but it will worsen any attempt at reducing the dose as the doses aren't evenly being reduced.

Pain sux big time and chasing the tail's just as bad,it's the double sided "Addiction" that we really need to work towards as a society....stress being one of the major players here,just a shame these drugs were synthesized and super-sized over time.

IMHO we need to conquer this control that's been slid neatly bit by bit into our consciousness and society...yep we've been duped BIG TIME!

The pressures surrounding money are what drives us to smoke,be caffeinated and take pills to be productive so we don't get into more debt and this is stress already...what if you can't make the repayments?...more stress...more pain...more escapism,we are all children

I agree about House,man my Fave show because I can see what he does and it's in ya face whether you get it or not,like it or not.

At one stage I was on P.R.N doses of 2mg Xanny bars Like WTF? That's an open ended script!!!!!and at the slightest and I mean slightest signal I would drop some just like House does...didn't make me buzz or feel good as I was already well above the therapeutic dose already,so it was in my head and I wasted so much time self-monitoring,but now as the fog clears I see.

Before all this medication came in we were a lot wiser and probably less stressed...well only stressed for reasons out of our control,it's our willingness to hand our control over

Umm and blog Tramadol will give you IBS,as will stress,smoking,drinking,bad sleep habits,eating shit in a tray....

We must surely all agree that the Pharm industry is part of "Control"...why did we lose faith in ourselves?

The Human body can make these chems at the right dose and pure,but we have let ourselves believe otherwise through the generations,become infected with the sickness through poor diet,exercise etc,...there is no pain in a trance state and the only prerequisite is that we are human.Anyone can access this state,it's our birthright.

"We're all IDIOTS!"

Injuries and genetic problems are a hard one and I'm not discounting this side of things but...well I guess as Khalil Gibran said "Pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses our understanding..."

Damn I could go on but I'm in pain and am going outside to take my mind off it,there's no sun in this room,no garden,the air's filled with dust-mites,I'm sitting in front of a frequency generator in an uncomfortable chair...and where's my dog?

The cure is you.

[hebrew]

yeah wise words bro, i know, its been stess that has been a factor of me being stupid for taking more clonaz, sometimes i dont even notice it, and i am above where i should be, so i gotta keep an eye of what i put in my mouth

thanks for the heads up though ay

[mescalito]

Yeah Benzo's will do that !

Dunno how many times I've sat and freaked not being able to remember whether I took the dose or didn't,even tho I just took it as my partner saw me...in the space of 10 mins and distraction.

CRAP stuff.

[Bread Filter]

Yeah Benzo's will do that !

Dunno how many times I've sat and freaked not being able to remember whether I took the dose or didn't,even tho I just took it as my partner saw me...in the space of 10 mins and distraction.

CRAP stuff.

 

I used to have the same issue with 5-HTP. I started knocking twice on a wooden desk or something before I took my dose and it seemed to work for me.

[FancyPants]

Meanwhile I"m seeing a fuckwit dr that won't prescribe me Tramadol for IBS, the only effective medication I've tried. I'd sure like to see a 4corners doco about the epidemic that is TRAMADOL ADDICTION!!!!!!

 

Blog have a look into Low Dose Naltrexone treatment for your IBS, it appears to be a potential treatment path. There's a thread here:

http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=25406

And here's a page on LDN where it suggests IBS:

http://www.lowdosenaltrexone.org/

I have a friend who has IBS as well as other conditions but she's staunchly anti-drug and tends to ignore any suggestions I make for her to research herself or ask her doctor.

[ref1ect1ons]

5HTP made me feel extremly strange, I felt kind of in a cloud, no pain, no stress, no motivation, my thoughts seemed to melt away and a peace and energy filled me (i only took it a couple times because I started to feel 'high' all the time and had to stop). Strange how diff chems affect ppl differently.

I still have some of it in my fridge, it also changed my sleep and eating habits. i felt more tired and more hungry when tired and when hungry.

[Auxin]

Yeah Benzo's will do that !

Dunno how many times I've sat and freaked not being able to remember whether I took the dose or didn't,even tho I just took it as my partner saw me...in the space of 10 mins and distraction.

CRAP stuff.

 

Put your daily pills in a separate bottle each night for the next days use, you'll know how many you've taken and wont OD without knowing. If you take 3 pills a day and theres 1 in the bottle, you already took your first 2 doses.

My father had the same problem, but more pills, I'd line up shotglasses of pills for morning, noon, night, and a bottle of oxys he took every 2 hours. It didnt solve the ultimate problem of using that stuff to begin with and he did pay the ultimate price for that, but it kept him from overdosing by accident.

Better still, find a way off the stuff and get loads of living back.

[wandjina]

 

http://sundaybottle.blogspot.com/

 

[mescalito]

Put your daily pills in a separate bottle each night for the next days use, you'll know how many you've taken and wont OD without knowing. If you take 3 pills a day and theres 1 in the bottle, you already took your first 2 doses.

My father had the same problem, but more pills, I'd line up shotglasses of pills for morning, noon, night, and a bottle of oxys he took every 2 hours. It didnt solve the ultimate problem of using that stuff to begin with and he did pay the ultimate price for that, but it kept him from overdosing by accident.

Better still, find a way off the stuff and get loads of living back.

 

Yep good advice and too easy...I tended to complicate things and worry about potency loss when dealing with Xanax mg's in withdrawal as for such a small pill the power is larger ie mg aint mg compared to Val...I used to do this in the early stages and lay out the week in a webster pack stuck to the fridge,then after talking to the manufacturer and finding out there was an allowable potency variance of up to 20% for generics,I swapped to the true brand.They said they should be kept no higher than 17'C,not what's on the box so they went in the bottom drawer and a new routine was formed...I was a REAL mess tho and obsessions and compulsions were ruling a lot.

Thanx for reminding me how far I've come

Will do man,sorry about ya dad hey.

@Wandjina: Thanks I'll read that later, in a bit of a go-go-go today...all part of the fun

[Yeti101]

Nice link wandjina.