Drugs are really really bad. I know that sounds ridiculously obvious. But for some reason, many people are forgetting this fact and succumbing to the addicting and insidious nature of drugs. Two of my friends’ sons overdosed last year. Fucking devastating. All I keep seeing is their little innocent faces and their beach blond hair before they did it – took drugs for the first time – and never looked back.
But the new wrench in the drug industry’s engine – is the so-called “legal” drugs like Oxycontin. Another couple of my friends’ young , amazingly gifted, hopeful cherubs – a child and a niece who were straight A students and athletes are now addicted to Oxycontin after their physicians prescribed the drug to them for sports injuries. It has ruined their and their families lives at least thus far filling their days with weeks that have turned into months of rehab and emptying their bank accounts and leaving them asking, what’s next?
According the to US Department of Justice, 2009 was the first year in the US when more people died from overdosing than from automobile accidents. They blame this frightening statistic on the fact that prescription drugs are now being abused at “unprecedented levels” – more than the most popular illegal drugs combined.
Someone shared with me that the reason it is so hard for their family member to get off the Oxy is not because it makes them feel good when they take it like many of us may assume. Of course some sort of “high” may be why they take it a second , third or fourth time. But an interesting fact is that after being on it, they need to take it to just feel normal because when they stop taking it they fall into a deep, dark depression that is only relieved by taking the drug again. How fucked up is that?
Seriously, when are we going to get a clue and do something to outlaw drugs like this? What responsible doctor, knowing how addicting this drug can be would prescribe it to an 18-year-old?
PLEASE do whatever it takes to talk to your kids about the dangers of drugs – EVEN prescription drugs. Aspirin and physical therapy might just do the trick. And don’t take prescriptive drugs yourselves where your kids can find them, share them with their friends and/or be enticed to sell them for sometimes around $100 a pill to those who are already addicted and desperate. Thanks doc!
