The report from the Treatment Episode Data Set also revealed that the number of opiate users admitted for addiction treatment centers who were on prescription painkillers had increased from 6.8% to 26.5% during that time. Many long-term drug treatment programs we work with echo these results.

There is no question that prescription drug addiction and abuse is a national epidemic – way more than any type of flu has been, yet swine and bird strands caused millions of people to get shots unnecessarily and drug companies raked hundreds of millions of dollars in sales from those “outbreaks”. Maybe that is the real connection – it’s not the number of lives lost that counts to them, but how much money winds up in their bank accounts each year. Both situations are directly related to drug companies and their bottom lines – though each has very different story lines.

Roughly 23,000 deaths have been linked to drug cartels in Mexico since the end of 2006. More than 60 deaths have occurred specifically at drug rehab centers just in the last two years, where cartel members are exploiting people in the clinics by offering drugs to participants and threatening them with death if they do not join their operations.

The article cites that there were about 2,000 deaths from heroin overdoses in 2000, and they were over 3,000 by 2008 with only 36 states reporting. That is a 50% increase in less than a decade, and there was a 20% increase just from ‘06 to ‘08.

While the increased availability and purity of Mexican black tar or brown heroin may be a culprit, you also have to draw parallels with the increase in prescription painkiller abuse. As I have stated, there is a hidden heroin addiction epidemic where people addicted to painkillers wind up turning to heroin for a stronger and cheaper fix to continue getting high or even to just keep from experiencing withdrawal symptoms.

This is very much a created demand for the drug, and if I were more of a conspiracy theorist I would tell you that it has been carefully orchestrated and that there are some of the same hands in the pots of both the legal and illegal opiate trade.

We will continue monitoring admission trends for drug rehabs to document this prediction (I predicted the prescription drug addiction outbreak many years ago as well) and also keep promoting successful rehabilitation options to help people permanently recover.

A quote from Boby May, associated director for the Association of State Correctional Administrators said, “When inmates are busy, they’re not getting into bad things. Programming is good and helps build responsibility and accountability.”

The article notes that eliminating drug and alcohol rehab programs from prison systems will likely cause an increase in recidivism.

One of the major problems with our nation’s prison system, aside from the fact that too many people are incarcerated instead of receiving other forms of help, is that there are many private facilities charging our country more money to contract with the government to house criminals.

A much more effective long-term plan would be to have a higher rate of alternative sentencing so that the money could be used for successful drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities, especially long-term rehab programs.

It’s no wonder that so many of our nation’s military personnel are developing substance abuse issues. In a recent USA Today article, Army vice chief of staff General Peter Chiarelli claimed the US Army needed to double the number of addiction treatment counselors to help soldiers, citing rampant alcohol abuse.

What is also happening is that an alarmingly high number of soldiers are being labeled with mental disorders and are given a deadly mixture of psychiatric drugs. Complications from these drugs have been demonstrated in numerous news stories.

Veterans’ Affairs advocate site vawatchdog.org talks about toxic overdose of military personnel from anti-psychotic drug cocktails.

There have also been reports of murders and suicides involving returning military veterans that had been placed on similar drugs.

The point is that in most cases drugs will not make people well, and our government is turning against our nation’s soldiers by prescribing them mind-altering drugs with very dangerous side effects. Many of these drugs also have a high potential for abuse in themselves, like anti-anxiety drugs (benzos), etc. These courageous men and women need real help – rehabilitation that does not put them on more drugs.

If you are a veteran or a family member of one in need of help to get off alcohol or other substances, there are effective drug rehabs available. Let us help you locate one that works. Call 1-877-421-9659 now.

However, those are actually only of secondary importance compared to what type of treatments are offered and what rehabilitation philosophies are followed by the facilities.

For example, one major difference is whether the drug rehab centers believe that addiction is an incurable brain disease or if they can demonstrate that people can actually become permanently cured with no further relapse or symptoms of the addiction.

Another difference is if they prescribe drugs to patients or if they use healthier alternatives to address the symptoms often associated with addiction. Many medications given in treatment centers today either have heavy side effects or potentially cause relapse because of their abuse potential themselves. After all, prescription drug addiction is one of the biggest problems in America today.

So, before you choose a drug rehab program based on cost or location alone, call us to speak with someone who can go over all of your options so that you can make an educated decision. Call 1-877-421-9659 today.

While the proposed increases are welcome, many in the drug rehab field feel that too much money is spent on the supply reduction and not enough on the demand reduction, as there is still a very wide gap of those who need drug rehab centers vs. those who actually get some type of help.

In fact, roughly 22 million people report past-month use of illicit drugs yet only about 2 million people receive some type of addiction treatment.

Given the amount of wasteful spending and bureaucratic tendencies, it is doubtful that governmental interdiction will make any substantial impact in the near future on the problem. Just like with rehabilitation programs who don’t get results, they have to continually justify their own existence by showing how bad the problem really is, when if they would just get results then they would have all the resources they needed to handle the problem.

While it is clear that more inpatient drug rehabs are needed, these figures make me wonder how many people stop using drugs every year. If it is not more than eight percent, then national drug prevention and drug rehab strategies aren’t working. We do already know that more money needs to be spent for addiction treatment programs, and one possible source is to divert funding from overseas enforcement operations.

However, when listening to this, you have to think for yourself if you actually agree with them on your original opinion of the other center(s), or if they can provide facts to back up their remarks rather than just providing some criticism.

If someone is quick to point out negatives in others, that typically isn’t a good characteristic, because that probably means they do that with their own friends and family members as well and most likely aren’t very trustworthy. On the flip side, if they work to educate you on the various types of drug rehab programs available and what each one offers and how they fit into the mix and let you make your own educated decision, then that shows integrity.

If you think you have found the right addiction treatment center for yourself or a loved one, then someone comes along and spreads rumors, don’t let those remarks throw you off what you feel is the right decision. Call the counselors back at the facility, tell them what you heard and allow them a chance to respond or to disprove the rumors if they are false.

If you would like more information about the types of rehabilitation programs available, then using a rehab referral service, such as this one, is a good start.

Methadone is a highly addictive and deadly drug that hurts more people than it helps in the long run. Like all drugs, there may be some medical uses, but the astronomically high number of overdose deaths associated with the drug calls for an outside inquiry into why the FDA and other government agencies not only continue to allow it’s wide usage but also promote it to people with chronic pain and opiate addictions.

If you or someone you know is has a methadone addiction and would like real help to get off with the help of a successful drug rehab center, contact us today by calling 1-877-421-9659.