Prescription Drug Addiction Blog

The era of the baby boomers has brought with it many transitions and along with this is a whole new breed of drug addicts, that don't know where to turn for the solution.

The baby boomers certainly have been in the spotlight a great deal lately and this is because many of them are reaching retirement age by 2011. The true baby boomers are those that were born between 1946 and 1964. Many of these individuals are currently under the routine care of their family physician for the treatment of many ailments that have raised the need for pain control. Unfortunately the most often relied upon means of pain control are prescription drugs that have a proven record of being addictive. These are those common household family name drugs like oxycodone and hydrocodone.

Nobody wants to live in pain and society justifies the use of these highly addictive painkillers as being a necessity, yet the addict that may have started to use heroine as a means to relieve emotional pain is considered a burden to society. What is the difference between the baby boomer that is addicted to oxycodone (also known as hillbilly heroin) or the addict who uses the standard forms of heroin? The only difference is that one gets it by prescription and the other has to obtain it illegally.

The argument could be made that the prescriptive addict didn’t realize that they could become addicted, besides they had no other choice. The heroin addict could argue they didn't think they would become addicted either, and there was nothing available for their emotional pain. Bottom line is no matter how these drugs are obtained they are addictive and they are deadly; and rehabilitation has to become the priority.

The heroin addict needs a long term rehab program that is going to allow them to deal with both their physical and emotional addiction, then long term support to integrate them back into society with confidence. The prescriptive addict needs the exact same rehabilitative program then an alternative non-addictive pain control method.

Most individuals put their trust in the medical professionals when there is a need. Unfortunately in their desire to meet the patient's needs for pain control, medical personnel under pressure to do so, look for the quick fix when it comes to pain. With limited resources to choose from they rely on the narcotics that they have available to do this.

It would seem that money would be far better spent by government powers to find alternative methods of pain control rather than support large drug manufacturers in their research to control pain through narcotics, while at the same time researching replacement drugs to offset the addiction.

The argument is often raised that there are plenty of drug rehab programs to assist the addict. According to these thinkers, they must be affordable because these short term treatment centers are always full. Well of course they are, when a good many of the addicts that are there are prescriptive addicts who have a decent income and can afford the treatments. The same can't be said for the street addict.

The best step any addict can take is to seek out the help of professional organizations that are in the know about what is available to the addict of today, and not what was available to the addict five, ten or over twenty years ago.