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Irresponsible Drug Use the Common Theme

By On · Add Comment · In alcohol, cancer, chiropractic, drug abuse, drug overdose, drug use, Fentanyl, HIV, medical marijuana, narcotics, pain pills, pain relief, schedule 1 drugs

I was asked to say a few words about drug use, but not in the positive. Well darn-it, how could I resist? I’m guessing the request comes on the heels of my most recent posts on medical marijuana, of which I make no secret that I am in favor. But I wish to be very clear that my views on medical marijuana are not a condonation of recreational or irresponsible drug use. On the contrary, it’s precisely because I am so against the irresponsible and dangerous use of drugs that I advocate medical marijuana. When compared to the heavy-duty narcotics and other pain pills that are doled-out indiscriminately by doctors, believe me, medical marijuana is a blessing.

First and foremost, I am a former drug abuser, so I full well know what it means to be addicted. And I also know the down-side to heavy and/or long-term drug use. I have done it all, you name it, but alcohol and cocaine were my main weaknesses. I was also addicted to nicotine. For twenty years I smoked a pack a day.

My experience with drugs and alcohol were not all bad, though–I certainly learned a lot. If nothing else I came to understand how drugs can consume your life, how they can distort your view of the world, and how they could damage relationships. I got to experience how they could kill your motivation and prevent you from achieving your full potential. I was also exposed to a dangerous, seedy side of life that was full of mistrust, deceit, theft and violence, not to mention legal ramifications that could end a life of freedom by landing you behind bars for a long time. Yeah, lots of disadvantages to drugs; but for me it was a valuable education that will probably serve me, and hopefully others, for the rest of my life.

Despite medical marijuana being classified a schedule 1 controlled substance—high potential for abuse, lack of accepted safety for use of the drug or other substance under medical supervision, and no currently accepted medical use in treatment in the United States (not entirely true, but that’s the definition)—it does have definite benefits. In my lifetime, I have seen it help HIV+ men keep from wasting away by giving them an appetite when they had none. I have seen it help cancer patients. One elderly couple, who are in their 90s, and whom I treat chiropractically, have shared their stories with me about the unrelenting pain they feel on a daily basis due to the cancer they each have; and how not even the Fentanyl* patches their doctors put them on would bring relief. Only medical marijuana did that. That’s right—these people in their 90s could only find relief from the intense pain they felt 24/7 by smoking a joint. They were not hippies; they had never had marijuana in their lives until they were sick with cancer. And it helped them. Duh!

Listen, drugs in and of themselves are not bad. They are helpful, even necessary, in many instances. I’ve needed the help of pain killers. An attack of acute appendicitis in 2006 showed me just how useful morphine could be (although not 100% effective and highly addictive). Whether antibiotics, sedatives, pain meds or steroids, each has a short-term use; but too many doctors give them to people long-term, as an easy yet temporary fix, instead of looking for real, long-term and self-directed solutions.  And it’s this that leads to serious problems.

Let me ask you a question. What do the following people have in common:

  • Jimi Hendrix, John Belushi, Sid Vicious, River Phoenix and DJ AM?
They all overdosed on recreational drugs.
And how about these people:
  • Elvis Presley, Keith Moon, Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger and Michael Jackson?
In both groups the common theme was an irresponsible use of the drugs. So regardless of whether a drug is illicit or legal, using it carelessly is foolish, and it can lead to illness or death.
That doesn’t mean drugs are bad by any means. Worshiping and relying on drugs, however, is unwise. And that goes for medical marijuana too. But if a substance can help cancer patients, people with HIV and people that suffer from chronic pain find relief, and maybe even help them survive (by increasing appetite), and that substance has low-risk side effects when compared to harder drugs like narcotics, then shouldn’t we use it? Shouldn’t we at least study it to see what medicinal benefits it might contain, and do our best to understand it?
That’s not me condoning drug use. I have lived both a life of drugs and a drug-free one—and I can say without a doubt that I prefer being straight, sharp and clear of mind. But I don’t knock recreational drug use, either, if the user can do so responsibly. However, rehab centers and city morgues are filled with people who couldn’t, and frankly, that could be you one day.  So if you value your life, it’s better to stay clean.
That, however, is the farthest I will go with wagging a finger at society, because I know we can’t both live in a culture where taking prescription drugs is considered ‘normal’, and expect others to not do so recreationally. That would be a fantasy.
*Fentanyl is a schedule 2 controlled substance–high potential for abuse, currently accepted medical use in treatment in U.S., and currently accepted medical use with severe restrictions. Abuse of the drug or other substances may lead to severe psychological or physical dependence (not true of marijuana).  Medical cannabis (currently a schedule 1–see above) would be more appropriately placed in this category, and probably most appropriately as a schedule 3.

Exercise: An Alternative to Getting High

By On · Add Comment · In drug addiction, endorphins, exercise, narcotics, opiates, pain, pleasure

In part three of theSecond Chance–Break Free From Addiction DVD clips, I discuss using exercise an an alternative to using drugs. Before you shake this concept off as absurd, consider this: Exercise releases endorphins–the body’s natural opiates.

Endorphins, like narcotics, feel good. So you can really achieve very similar pleasurable feelings (remember, no pleasure without pain) that you get from using drugs. The same? No…but similar, for sure. And the benefits of exercise are enormous–increased strength, stamina, endurance, balance, weight loss and natural anti-aging–all the while feeling as good as an orgasm! Without the crash of drug withdrawal.

So there you have it. If you or a loved one is struggling with drug addiction, please visit the Second Chance website, and get a copy of the DVD today–and then watch it–you’ll be happy you did.

Drug Deaths New Number One Killer

By On · Add Comment · In Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug deaths, narcotics, overdoses, prescription painkillers
Let’s see what you think of this one: In nearly one-third of states, drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities. You heard right–16 states now list drug overdoses as their number one killer. And it’s not just illicit drug use causing the increase in fatalities, but the rise of prescription painkillers.

According to experts at the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the drug-related death rate roughly doubled from the late 1990s to 2006. Although traffic accidents have been the top killer in America for the last several decades, drug deaths have been slowly inching by–leading in only eight states in 2003, they crept to 12 in 2005, and then 16 in 2006. Ouch! The states: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

Experts say that the increase in drug deaths is not just due to usual heroin and cocaine overdoses, but to increases in narcotic painkiller prescriptions like methadone, Oxycontin and Vicodin. From 1999 to 2006, death rates for such medications climbed for every age group. Deaths from methadone alone increased sevenfold, according to the CDC.

And mind you, these are not just of the black market variety, either: About half of the opiate medication deaths in King County, Wash., which includes Seattle, involved people who got their drugs through legal prescriptions, said Caleb Banta-Green, a University of Washington research scientist. Some experts believe that doctors’ prescribing habits changed in the 1990s when they found chronic pain overwhelming (to them*). Although most of the 39,000 drug deaths in 2006 were sudden, due to overdose, the numbers also reflected those due to organ damage from chronic use and abuse.

Here’s my issue with this situation: While many people have been crying for more medicine recently, this country’s obsession with drugs has been causing a large portion of the untimely deaths we are now seeing. Great–give us more drugs. More medicine. Not enough people have it, right? Let’s make drug deaths the top killer in all 50 states. Yeah. If some people have their way, we’ll be there soon enough.

*God forbid these doctors should refer some of these patients to alternative practitioners like chiropractors, acupuncturists or others. It might be simply disastrous to admit that perhaps these practitioners have a safe non-drug solution. Simply archaic.

Painkiller Overuse Causes Chronic Migraines

By On · Add Comment · In chiropractic, chronic, headaches, migraine, narcotics, rebound headaches

Have you ever heard this: The recommended cure for a particular illness makes the problem worse? Well that’s what’s happening with migraines. Apparently the drugs used to combat these headaches are causing more harm than good. Some people are overusing them, and as a result, are developing chronic migraines.

A recent study tracked 8,200 episodic migraine sufferers for one year and found that those who took drugs that contained either narcotics (Percocet) or barbiturates (Fiorinal) had a higher risk of getting worse. The higher the dose, the higher the risk. Bad news for people falling onto a vicious cycle of migraine-medicate.

Estimates have American migraine sufferers at 30 million. Migraines are a type of headache that cause excruciating pain, and in some, visual disturbances, nausea, sensitivity to light and sound. The cause of migraines is as of yet unknown. Many theories abound including vascular causes, chemical imbalances, and functional changes at the trigeminal nerve.

Whatever the cause, migraines are hard to treat. And, unfortunately, some people are chronic migraine sufferers (more than 15 days per month with pain). The problem, as uncovered by the study, is that some people who take repeated doses of prescription migraine meds, actually get rebound headaches. And when taken more than a few days a week, the meds can lead to chronic headaches.

Bummer for migraine sufferers. I know from my West Hollywood chiropractic practice that when caught soon enough, migraines can be warded off, either by chiropractic care or meds. In light of this recent study, it seems prudent to practice prevention as much as possible. If you suffer from migraines and haven’t tried chiropractic, then you should. If it works for you, then you can avoid the rebound effect caused by pain medication. Either way, getting at a migraine early on seems to be the best remedy.

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