The following is an article published by the Huffington Post on line.

NEW YORK — Sales of the nation’s two most popular prescription painkillers have exploded in new parts of the country, an Associated Press analysis shows, worrying experts who say the push to relieve patients’ suffering is spawning an addiction epidemic.

From New York’s Staten Island to Santa Fe, N.M., Drug Enforcement Administration figures show dramatic rises between 2000 and 2010 in the distribution of oxycodone, the key ingredient in OxyContin, Percocet and Percodan. Some places saw sales increase sixteenfold.

Meanwhile, the distribution of hydrocodone, the key ingredient in Vicodin, Norco and Lortab, is rising in Appalachia, the original epicenter of the painkiller epidemic, as well as in the Midwest.

The increases have coincided with a wave of overdose deaths, pharmacy robberies and other problems in New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Florida and other states. Opioid pain relievers, the category that includes oxycodone and hydrocodone, caused 14,800 overdose deaths in 2008 alone, and the death toll is rising, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says.

Nationwide, pharmacies received and ultimately dispensed the equivalent of 69 tons of pure oxycodone and 42 tons of pure hydrocodone in 2010, the last year for which statistics are available. That’s enough to give 40 5-mg Percocets and 24 5-mg Vicodins to every person in the United States. The DEA data records shipments from distributors to pharmacies, hospitals, practitioners and teaching institutions. The drugs are eventually dispensed and sold to patients, but the DEA does not keep track of how much individual patients receive.

The increase is partly due to the aging U.S. population with pain issues and a greater willingness by doctors to treat pain, said Gregory Bunt, medical director at New York’s Daytop Village chain of drug treatment clinics.

Sales are also being driven by addiction, as users become physically dependent on painkillers and begin “doctor shopping” to keep the prescriptions coming, he said.

“Prescription medications can provide enormous health and quality-of-life benefits to patients,” Gil Kerlikowske, the U.S. drug czar, told Congress in March. “However, we all now recognize that these drugs can be just as dangerous and deadly as illicit substances when misused or abused.”

Opioids like hydrocodone and oxycodone can release intense feelings of well-being. Some abusers swallow the pills; others crush them, then smoke, snort or inject the powder.

Unlike most street drugs, the problem has its roots in two disparate parts of the country – Appalachia and affluent suburbs, said Pete Jackson, president of Advocates for the Reform of Prescription Opioids.

“Now it’s spreading from those two poles,” Jackson said.

The AP analysis used drug data collected quarterly by the DEA’s Automation of Reports and Consolidated Orders System. The DEA tracks shipments sent from distributors to pharmacies, hospitals, practitioners and teaching institutions and then compiles the data using three-digit ZIP codes. Every ZIP code starting with 100-, for example, is lumped together into one figure.

The AP combined this data with census figures to determine effective sales per capita.

A few ZIP codes that include military bases or Veterans Affairs hospitals have seen large increases in painkiller use because of soldier patients injured in the Middle East, law enforcement officials say. In addition, small areas around St. Louis, Indianapolis, Las Vegas and Newark, N.J., have seen their totals affected because mail-order pharmacies have shipping centers there, said Carmen Catizone, executive director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.

Many of the sales trends stretch across bigger areas.

In 2000, oxycodone sales were centered in coal-mining areas of West Virginia and eastern Kentucky – places with high concentrations of people with back problems and other chronic pain.

But by 2010, the strongest oxycodone sales had overtaken most of Tennessee and Kentucky, stretching as far north as Columbus, Ohio and as far south as Macon, Ga.

Per-capita oxycodone sales increased five- or six-fold in most of Tennessee during the decade.

“We’ve got a problem. We’ve got to get a handle on it,” said Tommy Farmer, a counterdrug official with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.

Many buyers began crossing into Tennessee to fill prescriptions after border states began strengthening computer systems meant to monitor drug sales, Farmer said.

In 2006, only 20 states had prescription drug monitoring programs aimed at tracking patients. Now 40 do, but many aren’t linked together, so abusers can simply go to another state when they’re flagged in one state’s system. There is no federal monitoring of prescription drugs at the patient level.

In Florida, the AP analysis underscores the difficulty of the state’s decade-long battle against “pill mills,” unscrupulous doctors who churn out dozens of prescriptions a day.

In 2000, Florida’s oxycodone sales were centered around West Palm Beach. By 2010, oxycodone was flowing to nearly every part of the state.

While still not as high as in Appalachia or Florida, oxycodone sales also increased dramatically in New York City and its suburbs. The borough of Staten Island saw sales leap 1,200 percent.

New York’s Long Island has also seen huge increases. In Islip, N.Y., teenager Makenzie Emerson says she started stealing oxycodone that her mother was prescribed in 2009 after a fall on ice. Soon Emerson was popping six pills at a time.

“When I would go over to friends’ houses I would raid their medicine cabinets because I knew their parents were most likely taking something,” said Emerson, now 19.

One day she overdosed at the mall. Her mother, Phyllis Ferraro, tried to keep her daughter breathing until the ambulance arrived.

“The pills are everywhere,” Ferraro said. “There aren’t enough treatment centers and yet there’s a pharmacy on every corner.”

The American Southwest has emerged as another hot spot.

Parts of New Mexico have seen tenfold increases in oxycodone sales per capita and fivefold increases in hydrocodone. The state had the highest rate of opioid painkiller overdoses in 2008, with 27 per 100,000 population.

Many parts of eastern California received only modest amounts of oxycodone in 2010, but the increase from 2000 was dramatic – more than 500 percent around Modesto and Stockton.

Many California addicts are switching from methamphetamine to prescription pills, said John Harsany, medical director of Riverside County’s substance abuse program.

Hydrocodone use has increased in some areas with large Indian reservations, including South Dakota, northeastern Arizona and northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. Many of these communities have battled substance abuse problems in the past.

Experts worry painkiller sales are spreading quickly in areas where there are few clinics to treat people who get hooked, Bunt said.

In Utica, N.Y., Patricia Reynolds has struggled to find treatment after becoming dependent on hydrocodone pills originally prescribed for a broken tailbone. She said the nearest clinics offering the rehabilitation programs she wants are full and not accepting new patients.

“It’s a really sad epidemic,” Reynolds said. “I want people to start talking about it instead of pretending it’s not a problem and hiding.”

The following is an article featured on familydoctor.org.

Fiction #1

“Smoking isn’t any more of a problem for people in recovery from alcohol abuse than it is for anyone else.”

Fact: Almost 85% of people who are in recovery from alcohol are also smokers, compared with 21% of the general public. Compared to smokers who aren’t in recovery, smokers in recovery from alcohol abuse may be more addicted to nicotine and often smoke more cigarettes.

Fiction #2

“Quitting smoking will threaten my sobriety.”

Fact: Smokers who are in recovery from alcohol abuse can stop smoking without starting to drink again. Because smoking and drinking often go together, smoking can lead to a stronger craving for alcohol. So quitting smoking during or right after treatment for alcoholism can actually increase your chances of staying sober.

Fiction #3

“Alcohol addiction was the biggest threat to my life and my health, and I’ve quit drinking. Smoking won’t hurt me that much.”

Fact: Smoking is an addiction. It’s as likely to kill you as any other addiction — maybe even more so. People who have been in treatment for alcohol problems are more likely to die from tobacco-related diseases than from alcohol-related problems. In fact, recovering alcoholics who smoke are more likely to get heart disease, lung disease and cancers of the head, mouth and throat. They are also likely to die earlier than people in the general public.

Fiction #4

“I’m too addicted to quit smoking. I tried to quit before and failed.”

Fact: You may be more addicted to nicotine than other smokers, but very few people succeed the first time they try to quit smoking. Part of the problem may be that you tried to stop smoking on your own. Lots of resources can help you quit. They include: your doctor, friends and family members, stop-smoking support groups, nicotine replacement therapy, and organizations such as Nicotine Anonymous, the American Cancer Society and the American Lung Association. All you have to do is ask for help.

When you stop smoking, you may experience withdrawal symptoms like irritability, nervousness, difficulty concentrating and constipation. Counseling, medicine or both may help you handle the withdrawal symptoms. Ask your doctor what treatment is right for you.

Fiction #5

“I’ll fail–I know I will. Quitting smoking will be harder for me than quitting drinking was.”

Fact: There’s a good chance you felt this way, at times, about recovering from alcohol abuse. Feeling powerless and admitting you need help is the first step to kicking your smoking addiction. You need to approach quitting smoking the same way you approached quitting drinking–one step at a time. What gave you the strength and courage to give up drinking? The same tools such as treatment, therapy, group support, spirituality, and friends and family can help you quit smoking.

Fiction #6

“I could never quit. Most of my family members and friends smoke.”

Fact: Being around smokers can make quitting harder. But giving up any addiction is hard and requires you to make your own choice about what’s best for you and your loved ones. Asking family members and friends not to smoke around you gives them the opportunity to be supportive. At first it may help to stay away from other smokers.

Fiction #7

“I have too much stress in my life to quit right now.”

Fact: Your body is addicted to nicotine, so it feels better with the drug than without it. If you are under a lot of stress, maybe another time would be better to quit smoking. But remember that, like all other people, you will always be under some kind of stress. Waiting to be stress-free before you try to quit smoking may just be an excuse to avoid facing your nicotine addiction.

Fiction #8

“I can’t quit smoking because I’ll gain weight, and that’s bad for my health too.”

Fact: Most people gain no more than 5 to 10 pounds when they quit smoking, which is much less of a health risk than smoking. Exercising regularly and eating low-fat foods can help you avoid gaining too much weight.

The following is an article found on alcoholicsvictorious.org about the importance of eating healthy and how what you are eating could have a positive or negative impact on your recovery.  After the article is also a “Recovery Diet” for suggestions about what to eat, when to eat and vitamin supplements.

The Impact of Diet and Nutrition on Recovery

Sponsorship in 12 step programs is a serious business. Essentially, it’s about mentoring someone, but there is much more than just showing them the ropes. For many new members, their sponsor becomes the face and substance of the program – they judge it by the interactions with this “old timer,” for good or ill. Good is the overwhelming norm and many of the long term sober can name one or more sponsors who’ve helped them along the path.

Choosing a sponsor is no small matter – for either person. First, an intimate relationship will develop; a relationship that works both ways. The purpose of sponsorship is to have one person who knows you and your situation inside and out – someone who can share the joys and disappointments, and give useful advice. It flows the other way too. Being a sponsor is a great obligation, but there are rewards as well. Just as the fellowship as a whole aids and supports the addict, so too does the sponsor/sponsored interaction. It is not unusual for the sponsored to help with the sobriety of the sponsor. For the sponsor, it’s a way to show commitment and pay back a Karmic debt. It’s a way to pass the torch.

Because secrets will be shared and dirty laundry aired out, personalities should mesh well. Trust is a real issue. Without it, the relationship won’t work well. Along with this is a common, but unofficial rule that only those of the same sex should pair up as sponsor/sponsored. With same sex pairing, issues about speaking the same language, and issues about emotional attraction can be avoided.

In the modern world, tools are available for “remote sponsoring.” This includes phone calls, texting and the Internet at large. The advantage is retained anonymity, but the disadvantages are a lack of shared personal space. How much that matters depends on the people involved. Traditionally, a sponsor broke anonymity and helped in day-to-day affairs outside the 12 step group – things like employment and relationship issues that might arise at anytime. Whatever the mechanics, a sponsor should be available to fill the often large gaps between formal meetings.

Finally, a sponsor shouldn’t replace the 12 step program as a whole. Group meetings are still important, as is the literature. A sponsor should augment these, not detract.

Featured on: 12step.com

The 12 step program itself is over seventy years old, a testament to its durability.

12 Step Origins

Perhaps some of the more important features of the newer editions are the appendixes, which hold valuable information and points of clarity on the role of spirituality and addiction recovery.

The 12 steps followed the creation of A.A. by a few years, and they did not come into being all at once; rather, they developed somewhat organically before coming together in a very short period of time while co-founder Bill Wilson was writing what would become the Big Book in 1938.

He reached the realization that a book was not enough, that they needed a specific program for recovery. A number of the steps had already existed though mostly by word-of-mouth; Wilson’s epiphany was to put what existed under a single banner and add to them what might have been missing. His point was to make the program perfectly explicit through codification. Wilson recollects that writing the steps down required, “no more than twenty or thirty minutes. Seemingly I had to think little at all. It was only when I came to the end of the writing that I re-read and counted them. Curiously enough, they numbered twelve and required almost no editing.”

Those original 12 steps featured the use of God on several occasions, which Wilson reduced down to the minimum. The famous qualifier “as we understood Him” was not added until later. Beyond that, according to Wilson, the 12 steps “stand today almost exactly as they were first written.”

For many of the steps, AA owes a debt of gratitude to the Oxford Group, a Christian organization in existence around the early part of the 20th century that proved influential to early founders of AA. According to Wilson, the Oxford Group “laid particular emphasis on spiritual principles that we needed. But in fairness,” he added, “it should also be said that many of their attitudes and practices” were discarded because they were found to be incompatible.

Since then those 12 steps have been adopted by numerous organizations to deal with everything from narcotics abuse to emotional disorders and more. Each organization typically tweaks the twelve steps only slightly, just enough to emphasize the relevant substance or affliction, and generally—although not always—do so with the approval of Alcoholics Anonymous.

As featured on 12step.com

Working out can be a crucial tool for people who are trying to stay clean.  But for some people, excessive exercise can be equally addictive.

 

Addicts and alcoholics often experience sleep disturbance and often seek help from doctors. Sleeping meds have always been risky for addicts, here’s another reason to think twice.

In the study, which compared 10,529 people who received prescriptions for sleep aids with nearly twice as many people with similar health histories who did not take sleeping pills, researchers found that those who had prescriptions were more than four times as likely to have died during the study’s 2.5-year follow-up as those who didn’t take the drugs.

What’s more, the researchers also documented a 35% increased risk of cancer among people taking sleeping pills, compared with the non-prescription group. The risk of developing lymphoma, lung, colon or prostate cancer associated with sleeping pills was greater than the effect from smoking, says the study’s lead author, Dr. Daniel Kripke, co-director of research at the Scripps Clinic. Kripke says users aren’t warned adequately enough about these risks on the drug’s label. “The results were pretty surprising, and as far as I know, the mortality and cancer risks are not reflected in any labels,” he says.

It will be interesting to see if future studies reach similar conclusions.

(featured on www.addictionandrecoverynews.wordpress.com)

In what may turn out to be the first instance of a really great idea, Rutgers University in New Jersey has started a new type of residential hall – for those in addiction recovery. The dorms are an outgrowth of the university’s alcohol and drug assistance program and they have one essential element – students are protected from the pressure of drinking and drugging that comes with living with non-addiction students.

But the recovery option is more than just abstinence, according to the program director.

“A recovery room is for students who are actively pursuing staying sober.”

The extent to which addiction negatively impacts the pursuit of a college degree isn’t known. For many, graduation isn’t prevented with binges on the weekends. But, just as in other areas of life, especially where there is high pressure to perform, an addiction crisis can cripple someone’s chances. In a college setting, failing one class in a mandatory series can set a student back an entire year. That’s huge.

The dorms, which are reported to house 31 students this year, give addicted students a positive atmosphere and one where recovery is on the menu. The all important ingredient is peer relationships. Instead of the party focus, there’s a sober understanding of the power that drugs and alcohol has to ruin lives. They meet twice a week in either AA or NA meetings and a trained addiction therapist is available.

According to school sources, fun is one key element in the mix. The idea is to not only stop using behaviors and maintain recovery, but to replace those harmful things with enjoyable activities like intramural sports and other social events that don’t involve alcohol or drugs.

It’s certainly not all smooth sailing though. But when residents relapse, there are peers ready and waiting to help them back to sobriety. In this situation, your AA and NA sponsor might be your neighbor the next door down. College is tough enough already, and it’s nice to see Rutgers taking the lead to help those who want to help themselves.

Article taken from 12steps.com

Hope, Healing, Recovery

Each day as a company, what we value most, is how we, at Recovery Ways can change the lives of those who are in need.  Our recent venture was to share our unique program to the community of Lakeway, Texas.  Our facility in Lakeway, was set to bring a highly successful addiction treatment center that would offer participants Freedom for Life.  A center that would be a place of serenity and healing and something the community could be proud to support.

Dr. Maryann Rosenthal, Executive Director and James Peterson Vice President of Recovery Ways made a recent visit to Lakeway to educate the residents of the community on the importance of recovery and the benefits the center could have on their neighborhood.  Residents had the opportunity to discuss their concerns and questions to Dr. Rosenthal.  There was much opposition, as many individuals were unclear about what recovery really looks like and the “type” of individuals that seek recovery.  We all know an addict, even if sometimes we don’t think we do.

While others were celebrating Valentines Day last week Recovery Ways Executive Director, Dr. Maryann Rosenthal, was on a plane headed to Austin, Texas.  It was there that she, along with our Vice President James Peterson, would meet with members of the small community of Lakeway to address the oppositional stance they have taken on Recovery Ways starting construction on our new facility there.

Dr. Rosenthal handled many emotionally charged questions at a town meeting with poise and tact. Fighting preconceived notions of what Recovery Ways does and how we do it.  

While the local news uncovered all the facts surrounding the situation unfolding in the area, in the end, one thing was undeniable.  Recovery Ways had stood firmly in support of addicts and alcoholics everywhere either in recovery or seeking recovery. 

“It is unfortunate that the decision to cease construction has been made. Recovery Ways’ goal, however, remains the same: to establish an addiction treatment facility in the Lakeway area. We are confident that Recovery Ways will be a positive force in the community and surrounding area.”

Dr. Maryann Rosenthal 

Executive Director Recovery Ways