Alcohol Center Rehab

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reports that abuse of prescription drugs has nearly doubled

Many of us were raised to think that there are such things as good drugs, like different types of over the counter and prescription drugs, and bad drugs like cocaine, meth, heroin or LSD. The simple fact is that they are all still drugs and all drugs have immediate and long-term side effects.

A new study from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University found that the 15.1 million Americans abusing prescription drugs exceed the combined number abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin.
 
The CASA report reveals the findings of a three-year study of prescription painkillers, depressants and stimulants.  The study found that while the U.S. population increased 14 percent from 1992 to 2003, the number of 12-17 year olds abusing prescription drugs leapt 212 percent and the number of adults doing so rose 81 percent.  The total number of Americans abusing prescription drugs went from 7.8 million to 15.1 million.

Most drugs simply mask the pain and discomfort for which they are taken and don\t actually "cure" anything. Aspirin, for example, doesn\'t cure a headache. It simply "short circuits" the person\'s ability to get the pain messages coming from the cause of the headache.  The nutritional deficiency or physical problem that originally caused the headache is still there, but it is temporarily no longer perceived by the drug user. Usually, when the drug wears off, the ache returns and will often be more severe because the original problem was masked or hidden and not directly addressed or handled.

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