VistaTaos

Substance abuse counselors have known for years based on their experience with their patients that there is a link between childhood traumas and drug or alcohol addiction. A recent collaboration between physicians from the University of Texas and Tennessee’s Meharry Medical College focused on the connection between childhood trauma and the development of depressive disorders or substance abuse.

The study involved teens—a small group, to be sure, tracking only 19 youngsters with known childhood traumas against a control group of 13 teens with no known traumas. Their progress was documented every six months for up to five years to assess the need for drug addiction treatment or psychotherapy for depression. 

Imaging studies of the brain were performed on each of the children at the outset of the study, with repeat examinations conducted as follow-up. While only one of the teens in the control group experienced substance abuse problems and one suffered from depression, four among the traumatized group required drug addiction treatment and five of them needed psychotherapy for depression.  Results showed diminished integrity of the brain’s white matter, the inner brain material, especially in the parts of the brain that help with making decisions about behavior and also in the control of emotions.

What Constitutes Childhood Trauma?

Most people think of trauma as something injurious, something that physically injures a person. It’s true that children or anybody suffering from physical violence experiences that very common definition of trauma.

However, there are additional traumas that affect us as we grow. A physician from the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, speaking to several hundred mental health professionals, enlarged the definition of trauma to include not just physical but sexual and psychological abuse, verbal mistreatment, and deprivation related to poverty. Children who witness domestic violence or see their parents being arrested or suffer from their parents’ addiction issues are victims of childhood trauma.

The much-larger Ohio study went a bit further by calculating reports of abuse according to the number of traumas experienced. Those who experienced at least three of the traumas demonstrated a sevenfold increase in alcohol abuse. They were ten times more likely to experiment with intravenous drugs. Those extrapolated figures clearly document the evidence between childhood trauma and addiction.

Looking at Treatment Options

What hope is there for people who have experienced one of more of these childhood trauma? After all, you can’t erase the past.

Substance abuse treatment professionals will tell you, however, that they help their patients to identify the traumas and recognize that they had no control over or responsibility for the traumas they underwent. For some people—someone with an addicted or abusive parent, for example—abuse continues into adulthood, and at some point they have to learn to draw boundaries so that the abuse is separated from the positive aspects of their lives.

Many people have to learn that they can’t change a negative past, and they can’t change negative parents or other family members who caused them trauma. They can, however, change themselves.  They can learn how to say, “That’s what happened, and it wasn’t my fault.” They can learn to move forward from the darkness of those days into the light of recovery.

That’s just one aspect of recovery—addressing the issues of the past that take a person into addiction in the first place. If you know someone who suffered trauma during their childhood who needs alcohol or drug addiction treatment now, or if that person is you, it’s important to find a place that will help the addict work on all aspects of himself. A residential drug treatment center offers much more than abstinence therapy: There are opportunities to face the ghosts of the past, and therapeutic options that help a person open up to the positive benefits of treatment.  Contact an admission counselor at Vista Taos Renewal Center today for more information at 1.800.245.8267.

Service providers at drug and alcohol treatment centers are excited about the opportunities spelled out in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that will hopefully expand the availability and scope of addiction treatment. Mental health  and substance abuse services generally fall under the category of behavioral health. While many insurance companies have refused to provide adequate coverage for such care, implementation of the ACA may change all that.

The truth is that 8.9 million American adults not only suffer from substance abuse but also experience co-occurring disorders. What that means is that some type of mental health illness is going in conjunction with the person’s medical diagnosis of addiction. For example, if someone with bipolar disorder cannot or does not get mental health treatment, he might self-medicate with illegal drugs to improve his symptoms, with an accompanying risk of addiction.

Many people who abuse drugs experience profound physical disorders of some kind, either a long-term disease process or a physical disability. Quite often, the user will experience respiratory problems because he engages in poor health habits such as smoking cigarettes. Many complain of stomach disorders and dental problems associated with drug ingestion.

The converse of this scenario also applies: If someone falls into a pattern of habitual alcohol or drug use, he will begin to neglect his physical needs. He may no longer be able to afford his regular medications, whether they are for mental or physical health maintenance, because he spends his money on his substance of choice. He will neglect his nutrition and sleep requirements.

The Affordable Care Act offers hope that staff in drug and alcohol treatment centers will be able to provide a full cadre of services to the abuser, ensuring both his physical and mental health. Our figures need to improve, because right now less than 8 percent of those 8.9 million people are receiving both medical and mental health services.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) reports that an integrated approach to treatment ensures better outcomes with a higher percentage of patients staying healthy and remaining free of drugs. With the Affordable Care Act, more people will have the insurance to cover those benefits.

There is still a concern among many substance abuse treatment providers that private insurance companies will find loopholes to get out of paying for covered services. The federal Mental Health Parity Act passed in 2011 requires health insurance companies to subsidize services for mental health on the same level as medical or surgical benefits.  The Affordable Care Act means that employer-provided health insurance plans must offer inpatient and outpatient benefits for substance abuse treatment.

In the case for residential treatment, however, managed care organizations typically process such requests with great reluctance. Usually the professional at the drug and alcohol treatment center who will be providing services must identify the substances abused by the addict as well as how they are taken and how often they are used.  Additional factors such as risk-taking behaviors, social and family stressors, and suicidal tendencies are reviewed. Most often, even if there is a level of risk associated with undergoing treatment while the addict continues to live at home, the managed care provider will insist upon outpatient treatment.

Ultimately, the most significant aid to treatment that comes from the Affordable Care Act will be the integration of substance abuse treatment with services for co-occurring mental health and medical diagnoses. The drug and alcohol treatment centers that expand to provide services to treat the whole person will be the ones that remain viable as we head into the future.

Read More About It

Kessler, Andrew, in The Partnership at DrugFree.org. Commentary: The Affordable Care Act Could Benefit Treatment of Co-Occurring Disorders. http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/addiction/commentary-affordable-care-act-could-benefit-treatment-of-co-occurring-disorders-3?utm_source=Join+Together+Daily&utm_campaign=e2ab59fdb3-JT_Daily_News_Affordable_Care_Act_Could&utm_medium=email

People who are getting high from salvia are taking a big chance with a one-way ticket to psychosis. While long-term disabilities from use of this drug are not widely reported, there is evidence that even when someone comes down from a salvia high, he is likely to bounce back off into insanity. What’s up with this drug?

Salvia Divinorum is actually a cousin of the sage plant, native to the regions of the Oaxacan Mountains and used by Mazatecan shamans in their practice of mysticism and religion. Tribal priests either chewed the leaves or brewed them into a tea. Simply smoking the leaves produces little effect, but purveyors of this drug will doctor leaves with liquid salvia so that people can smoke the substance in higher concentrations. It can even be liquefied and added by drops into someone’s beverage.  Salvinorum A is the actual active ingredient in this plant.

Its high is different from that of spice or marijuana; it produces more of a hallucinatory effect including out-of-body experiences and flashbacks. The National Drug Intelligence Center reports that people experience feelings of traveling through time and space or the sensation of merging with inanimate objects.  Because sellers control the strength of the product, the high can be a short one or it can last for hours.  A professional from a drug treatment center has stated that many people use it once and then avoid it because they have unpleasant experiences. However, others view it as “any high in a storm.”

People who sell it—some from head shops but mostly on the Internet—will be quick to tell you that it offers medicinal benefits to treat diarrhea, headaches, and even rheumatism. In 2008 researchers acknowledged it had potential to reduce pain without the negative side effects of opioid analgesics and possibly reduce the symptoms of Alzheimer’s, depression, and schizophrenia.

Medical researchers are eager to study it but they are put off by reports of this drug’s after effects. In Delaware, a mother blamed use of salvia for her son’s suicide. The actual cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning.  She campaigned with success to have it outlawed in her state.

A psychiatrist at a California hospital-based drug treatment center reported in 2011 on an adult male who presented in the emergency department with active psychosis. He was admitted to the hospital and attempts to wean him from drugs were unsuccessful; he remained actively psychotic due to salvia.

Kate Daily from Newsweek reported that Jared Loughner, the Arizona shooter responsible in 2011 for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ injuries and the deaths of six people, purportedly ingested salvia prior to that shooting. Experts believe that a user will be too incapacitated to commit harmful acts while he’s high, but the drug can trigger a person’s capacity for psychosis and push him over the edge afterward.

Most states now outlaw salvia or categorize it as a Schedule I drug, but the problem, as with spice, continues to be an inconsistent scope of laws across the states.  Exceptions include states that allow its sale when not intended for human consumption, including Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Tennessee, and West Virginia. A couple of those states specify that salvia is approved for landscaping. There are also states that allow it for sale to adults only, including California, Maine, and Maryland. Wisconsin prohibits its possession but not its sale or delivery.

Like most people who abuse substances, those who use spice or salvia will over time develop a relationship with their substance of choice. Only referral to a licensed, certified drug treatment center can help someone learn how to beat his addiction and maintain recovery.  For more information to seek help contact Vista Taos Renewal Center at 1.800.245.8267.

Read More About It

Dailey, Kate. Newsweek online, on The Daily Beast, U.S. News, 1/13/2011, at http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2011/01/13/salvia-and-the-arizona-shooting.html

Join Together Staff at Drugfree.org. Researchers’ Fears Among Salvia Concerns, at http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/drugs/researchers-fears-among

Years ago, when people named the drugs most seriously abused in the United States, they immediately thought of marijuana, cocaine, and—that most despicable of all drugs—heroin. Drug rehab was for people with needle tracks climbing up their arms. If someone was an addict, you knew he lived a life so lowdown he didn’t even know how low down he was.

You can’t be so quick to generalize these days. The business manager wearing the perfect suit with the waistcoat or the fashionista who teaches at the art institute might well be abusing drugs. They’re not using heroin or methamphetamine or ecstasy. According to Mike Gallagher in the Albuquerque Journal Online, in Prescription Drugs Kill More in N.M. Than Heroin http://www.abqjournal.com/main/2012/08/14/news/prescription-drugs-kill-more-in-nm-than-heroin.html, there are more people in New Mexico dying from prescriptions drugs than from heroin or cocaine.

Gallagher reports on Dr. Harris Silver, a surgeon who got a prescription for pain killers for a disc problem in his neck. When his back problem was resolved, he kept seeking new prescriptions, going from doctor to doctor.  His drug abuse went on for twenty years. He was caught only when an astute pharmacist noticed that he was presenting prescriptions from a variety of doctors and turned him in. 

Nobody thinks they’re “abusing” prescription drugs. Your doctor writes an order so that you can go to the drugstore and pick up something to help you sleep, help you relax, help you quit biting your nails. And then you give some to your spouse—“just try some of this”—or someone else in your family helps themselves to it.  According to the National Surveys on Drug Use and Health quoted by Gallagher, 55 percent of pain medication abusers get their drugs for free by taking them from a friend or relative.

When someone like Dr. Silver gets a prescription for pain medications, he is likely to have difficulty getting multiple refills. Either his doctor or his insurance company will balk at continuing the prescription. That’s when earnest, ordinary people begin stealing from friends and family members, or they turn to drug dealers for something to take the place of the prescription meds.

The three most commonly abused categories of prescription medications include opioid pain relievers, central nervous system depressants, and stimulants. Let’s take a look at each of them.

• Opioids. If you’ve heard of Percocet, Hydrocodone, OxyContin, or even Tylenol with Codeine, then you’ve heard of opioid pain relievers. They are commonly prescribed for postoperative pain or dental problems.  They are dangerous because they cause users to be drowsy and utilize poor judgment, rendering them prone to automobile or other accidents. However, possibly their biggest danger occurs when they depress the respiratory system. You can take painkillers, pass out, and die.
• Central nervous system (CNS) depressants include common, well known benzodiazepine medications such as Valium and Xanax, used to relieve stress and panic attacks. Sleep aids such as Lunesta or Ambien are not classified as benzodiazepines but they work on the same receptors in the brain. There is also a category known as barbiturates, which are better controlled than other CNS depressants. However, since they are sometimes used for surgical patients or for treating seizure disorders, they are still somewhat readily available. They are just as deadly as opioids.
• Stimulants. As you would think from the name, stimulants increase your heart rate, alertness, and overall mental focus. Today they are most often prescribed to treat attention deficit disorder, and they are also very carefully controlled. However, they are popular among people who take them for weight loss and also among college students who want to heighten their alertness when they are studying or taking a test. Aside from the euphoric energy a user will feel, he is also likely to experience paranoia and aggression, and when he comes down from the high he will feel draggy and depressed.  They won’t make you pass out like the other two categories, but how about being “stimulated” all the way to a heart attack?

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMSHA) reported in 2008 that 52 million Americans had abused prescription drugs at least once, and 35 million of them had abused pain killers. Over 6 million had used them in the one-month period just prior to the survey.  The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) estimates that over 6,000 people per month have their first experience abusing prescription drugs.

In New Mexico, Gallagher reports, most of the people who die from prescription drugs are between the ages of 44 and 64. That’s a far cry from the young street punks, right? Among women, more die from prescription drugs than from illegal drugs.

Today Dr. Silver, after successfully completing drug rehab, has switched his specialty to epidemiology, which is the study of disease patterns in the general population. He testified before New Mexico’s Legislative Health and Human Services Committee last year that focusing on drug prevention is twice as cost effective as treatment. 

Gallagher also reports on the case of another man who graduated from painkillers for dental pain to heroin. He went through one drug rehab center and relapsed immediately after his release. Both Dr. Silver and this second young man are also doing well at this time in their recovery. Both of them tell people that drug rehab isn’t easy, that addiction is a complex brain disease that disables a person’s ability to make good decisions.

Rehab isn’t easy. But it’s possible!  Call Vista Taos to begin your road to recovery at 1.800.245.8267.

References

http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/prescription-drugs/trends-in-prescription-drug-abuse/how-many-people-abuse-prescription-drugs

http://www.fda.gov/ForConsumers/ConsumerUpdates/ucm220112.htm

http://www.nmlegis.gov/lcs/minutes/lhhsminnov2.11.pdf

Some people who recognize that they need to be in recovery simply refuse to attend AA or NA meetings: They just don’t want to be “hassled” by others who practice religion openly in their lives. It turns them off when they hear someone say that they will be doomed if they don’t embrace religion, that they can’t achieve recovery or maintain sobriety without the help of God.

Is that a valid excuse for skipping step work? Can you find your way into recovery without embracing religion?

If you go into a recovery program for 90 days, for example, you will learn the 12 steps of AA or NA, but because understanding each of the steps takes so much time and thought you will really only work your way through the first four steps. They talk about being powerless, believing in a higher power, turning yourself over to your higher power, and conducting a fearless moral inventory.

If you were raised in a household where religion was practiced sternly or not practiced at all, you simply might not see the relevance of turning your life over to the care of God.  After all, all religions are man-made organizations.  They don’t encourage exploration or expansion of the inner self. Some people don’t want to go to confession. Others practice a gay or lesbian lifestyle or believe in other liberal agendas that may be excluded by some religions.

Those people do not take pleasure in participating in a religion that requires the subjugation of oneself to a church leader who passes judgment and sets expectation.  The precepts of most religions require you to accept certain teachings blindly, without question.

However, the key to succeeding in a 12-step recovery program lies in that little phrase at the end of Step 3: It refers to God “as you understand him.”  What that really means is that you are ready to turn yourself away from the self-destructive practices of using alcohol or drugs and instead turn toward a higher power—a new spirituality—that will bring enlightenment and happiness into your life. It doesn’t matter whether your higher power is a supreme being or something else, like a commitment to earth stewardship or a devotion to meditation and healthful living.

Realizing that you can embrace recovery without committing yourself to a strict theological approach is quite possible. It’s a joyous idea! What you really will do is focus not on religion but on spirituality.

Instead of forcing you to accept the stern doctrines of an organized religion, your spirituality will allow you to embrace an inner peace. Instead of accepting creeds etched in stone dictated by church leaders, spirituality allows you to ask questions and formulate your own theories.

Instead of fearing the punishments proscribed by church leaders and bearing heavy guilt for your past sins, you can learn to forgive yourself and move forward. You can learn to forgive the others in your life who have hurt you, and when you cannot change something you can learn to move forward from it. 

So let’s take a good look at the first four steps: 

• Step 1: You are powerless over your addiction: Well, if it’s true, admit it, God or no God. Are your relationships with other people damaged? Have you jeopardized your job and your ability to provide clothing, food, and shelter for yourself and your family? Has your substance abuse brought you legal problems? Has your addiction at times made you physically ill?
• Step 2: A power greater than yourself can restore you to sanity. You owe it to yourself to evaluate your perceptions of religion. If you don’t like religion, why not? How was it practiced in your household when you were growing up? Do you think that scientific energy drives the universe? If so, how can you synergize with the world around you?
• Step 3: You will turn yourself over to the will of God as you understand him. There is not a God in any known religion who wants you to obey him mindlessly. If you do embrace the idea of a supreme being, think of Him-Her-It as a being that wants you to do what you believe is the right thing. Once you embrace the thinking, the recovery program, and the 12-step group, you can focus on using your intellect to learn.  You can begin to work on recognizing your relationship with your addiction, your need for treatment, and the triggers that spur you on to substance abuse.
• Step 4: The searching and fearless inventory. The first three steps all lead to this one. No matter whether you believe in God or if you deny his existence, you reach the point at Step 4 when you have to turn your probing inspections inward at yourself. What kind of character do you have? Are you a good person more than a bad person? What are your strengths and weaknesses?

Recovery by way of development of your inner spirituality can certainly work when you don’t hold a conviction to religious beliefs. What spirituality means in real practice is an attention to yourself: Enhance your inner self with meditation. Expand your mind through journaling. Focus on outward practices such as environmental causes or mentorship in an area where you have strengths.

You may do well in a recovery program that helps you explore those inner needs and characteristics. Yoga can help you become a more calm and focused person. Holistic treatments, acupuncture, and artistic therapies let you develop self-confidence and emotional healing. Even a guilty pleasure such as massage helps to relieve discomfort and reduce stress.

Learn to treat your body better as you begin your spiritual recovery from addiction. Drink healthful foods. Read the nutritional panels on the packages of your favorite healthy foods when you shop. Find an exercise program that suits you, whether it involves free weights, a machine circuit, cardio classes, or swimming. If you once enjoyed reading, drawing, singing, or another creative pastime, then take it up again. Only when you embrace your own complete harmony with the world around you will you be able to travel down the road to recovery, whether you travel with God or without him.

Vista Taos Renewal Center’s therapeutic efforts are grounded the Twelve-Step  model.  For more information on the residential treatment program contact them 1.800.245.8267.

The Austin American-Statesman reported in September 2012 that of the Texas veterans who have died since their service in Iraq or Afghanistan, a full-one third passed away from drug overdoses, suicide, or traffic accidents. The newspaper’s investigation reveals what law enforcement officials as well as local communities have been slow to recognize: Even though our veterans honor us by serving our country, we fail to reciprocate that honor by adequately treating their addiction and abuse problems.

The average age of these dying veterans is only 28 years old. They leave behind them wives, children, and families who mourn them and simultaneously question the need for their loss. Many of these untimely passages could have been prevented had their families and friends recognized the dangers of the antidepressant drugs they were taking and helped them find appropriate drug rehabilitation centers

As reported on Statesmen-com   http://www.statesman.com/news/news/local-military/texas-war-veteran-deaths-studied/nSPJs/  the figures stack up like this:

• Of 266 Texas veterans’ deaths investigated, more than one-third of them died from a toxic combination of drugs, from the overdose of a single substance such as an antidepressant, or from suicide.
• Of those 266, one-fifth of the fatalities resulted from vehicular accidents, with figures unavailable for the percentage that were driving under some type of intoxication.
• Of 46 veterans with a primary diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), only two of them died from natural causes. That’s a mortality rate of 83 percent.

Many of our returning veterans suffer from both depression as well as a physical disability resulting from the war, seeking to self-medicate, they too often combine antidepressants with pain medication,  a deadly cocktail. Add to those medications a real cocktail—on those occasions when the young men and women decide to add alcohol to their regimen, you have a recipe for disaster.

Almost 20 percent of the 266 deaths were attributable to suicide. The real number may be higher because deaths were not counted as suicide if the decedent did not leave a note.

Too many veterans need effective treatment in drug rehabilitation centers but fail to receive it. The Veterans Administration insists that it can only provide treatment when it is requested.  Protocols for administration of pain drugs and those for PTSD have been implemented, but according to the investigation from the Austin newspaper, the VA is failing to assess fair adequate numbers of returning veterans. This prevents them from recognizing the scope of the problem as a whole.

Many veterans receive prescriptions to treat their pain or depression without adequate education or counseling about the dangers of taking a high dose of medication. They do not anticipate the overwhelming effect on their bodies when they combine drugs or use drugs with alcohol.

Dr. Ann Blake Tracy, Executive Director of the International Coalition for Drug Awareness, commented on this story, stating that the young ages and physiology of our returning soldiers—with an overwhelming number of them under the age of 25—makes them more susceptible to side effects such as suicidal and even homicidal ideation.

While there are veterans turning to the drug rehabilitation centers at VA Hospitals, others seek help from community providers. This is sometimes because of access to services, and other times it’s because they want to hide their problems from the military machine. Often it’s a member of the family who turns to a community service provider.

In Oklahoma and some other states, veterans participating in drug rehabilitation centers may leave those programs because new laws forbid them to smoke cigarettes.  http://newsok.com/tobacco-using-vets-fear-they-could-be-asked-to-leave-state-owned-centers/article/3663305 According to a story in the online version of The Oklahoman, a law passed early in 2012 has now gone into effect forbidding smoking in state-run facilities. About 20 percent of those veterans smoke cigarettes. Even though cigarettes were provided when they went to war in Iraq or Afghanistan, they now have to give them up if they want to continue treatment.

Those who do seek help for mental health or substance abuse often feel that counselors and social workers fail to understand the military culture. How can a licensed therapist without wartime experience understand the stresses of deployment, the MREs (ready-to-eat meals), and the lack of privacy while showering and sleeping? Many of them feel frustrated just trying to tell their story to a therapist when they have to stop and explain a slew of military abbreviations and anagrams or describe what they were doing within the context of a day.

Meanwhile, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) reports that almost 600,000 veterans suffer from co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders in a given 12-month period. The number is staggering. The consequences are frightening.

People getting high today demonstrate a high amount of resourcefulness in getting their buzz, and a couple of plant-based substances continue to cause concern among professionals in drug rehab centers and families of substance abusers. If someone in your family is smoking spice or K2, you need to know that those drugs are pretty much the same thing, and sellers have been pretty creative about skirting the laws against its sale.

The Many Names of Spice

Maybe you’ve heard it called spice, K2, smoke, genie, Yucatan fire, sence, skunk, bliss, black mamba, or zohai. Those are all names for the same drug, JWH-018, although there are slight variations.

The actual high comes from a man-made chemical originally created by researchers who wanted to study the cannabinoid receptors in the brain. Sellers use it to spray it on herbs; it is available in head shops and even gas stations marketed as potpourri or incense. While it is a favorite right now of teens and young adults, anyone who’s craving a marijuana high can get a similar high from using this drug.  Appropriate treatment takes place in licensed drug rehab centers.

The short-term side effects include lack of pain response, elevated levels of agitation, increased sweating, nausea and vomiting, spastic body movements and seizures, as well as increased heart rate and blood pressure, prompting drug treatment center professionals and state legislators to work to get this drug banned from legal use.

The initial problem with doing that was that laws addressed specific components of the chemical, and its manufacturers would simply slightly alter it so that it fell outside of legislated bans.

Finally, in March 2011, the Drug Enforcement Administration passed a one-year ban against spice and all synthetic cannabinoids, and it was passed permanently in 2012. By the end of 2012, 41 states had passed specific legislation prohibiting spice, with the exceptions being Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont.  Nevada, Oregon, and Washington reflected bans by classifying it as a schedule I drug through their state pharmacy boards.

The United States military finally addressed its problematic and growing use among the young men who are serving our country: Its semi-legal status and easy portability made it a favorite among enlisted men. Early in 2012 the Secretary of the Army issued comprehensive wording making it clear that soldiers are not allowed to use it, possess it, manufacture it, sell it, distribute it, import it, or export it.

If someone in your home is using spice you’ll find it packaged in little plastic kitchen-type storage bags, usually with a colorful label stuck on it. Since it’s been categorized in the same DEA schedule as PCP, ecstasy, and marijuana, there should be no question of its legality.

Just as with marijuana and its characterization as a so-called gateway drug, users of spice will find themselves in danger of moving on to other, more serious drugs. Specialists in drug rehab centers are best equipped to help your loved one fight their dependency on this drug.  The  counselors at Vista Taos Renewal Center are ready to help you or your loved one.  Simply call them at 1.800.245.8267.

Read More About It

National Conference of State Legislators, November 2010. http://www.ncsl.org/magazine/trends-and-transitions-october-november-2010.aspx#pot National Conference of State Legislatures.

Lopez, C. Todd, on The Official Homepage of the United States Army, “Spice” Now Illegal, 03/24/2011, http://www.army.mil/article/53810/spice-now-illegal/.

The popular prescription sleep aid, Ambien, may be a vehicle for increased rates of death, according to a new study completed by Scripps Health Research Institute.

The study focused on 10,000 individuals prescribed sleeping aids through Pennsylvania’s Geisinger Health System. The participants were of various ages, lifestyles and general health, but the average age of the participants was 54-years old.

As the study progressed, it became clear that those who used prescription sleep aids were much more likely to die early than similar individuals (based on age, lifestyle and health) who did not use sleep aids. In fact, when the final numbers were tallied, prescription sleep-aid users were four times more likely to die prematurely, even if their drug use was very minimal.  

Unfortunately, the study may not be entirely conclusive because it did not follow the participants closely for the cause of death; many underlying factors could have contributed to the death rate increase, including depression, mortality due to reactions with other drugs, and accidental use of the sleep aid while operating a vehicle. More conclusive evidence is needed.

However, whatever the cause of increased death rates among sleep aid users, it seems rather clear that the drug should be used as sparingly as possible, if only to prevent these underlying causes of death from occurring.

Additionally, in other Ambien news, it’s important to note that many physicians and pharmacists would deem the drug as a narcotic drug, despite the drug-maker’s claims that sleeping pills are non-narcotic and non-habit forming. Ambien is even advertised on television as being a safe sleep aid, but many people will argue differently. Ambien is very much an addictive and abused drug, it has a street value and is often sold by drug dealers.

Due to these findings, it may be beneficial to attend a rehab program if you suffer from Ambien abuse. Whether you take the prescribed dose to get to sleep night after night or you are taking it for the hallucinogenic side effects, addiction rehabilitation can help you break the habit.

Vista Taos Renewal Center in New Mexico will work with you and your loved ones to build a customized inpatient therapy program complete with family counseling if needed. You will reclaim your natural sleep cycle and return to a less dangerous lifestyle. If you are in the New Mexico area, contact Vista Taos any time to discuss intake procedures. Vista Taos welcomes people from all over, so even if you’re not in the immediate area, call to learn why Vista Taos’ rehab program stands tall above the rest.

A retired Denver sheriff who was awarded the 2001 Sheriff of the Year Award hasn’t been out of the legal limelight since his retirement. Former sheriff Patrick Sullivan became involved with the law again after a 10-year hiatus; only this time, he was on the wrong side of the badge.

Sullivan, 69, was arrested for methamphetamine use, distribution, and solicitation of prostitution in exchange for the drug. The former lawman pleaded guilty to the charges after being presented with video evidence that depicted Sullivan distributing meth to men in exchange for sex.

The former Arapahoe County sheriff (1984 to 2002) seems to have fallen far from his glory days as the2001 Sheriff of the Year and 1995 appointee to the National Commission of Crime Prevention and Control. The highly acclaimed sheriff even had a Colorado jail named in his honor, which in an ironic twist, is where he will serve his 38 day sentence. 

Sullivan was hopeful that he may serve his time, seek forgiveness and move his life forward in a positive direction, according to his statement to the court at sentencing. This apology and these realizations may be the first step Sullivan needs to take to overcome his meth addiction, and his court-appointed substance abuse treatment will be the next crucial step to his meth addiction recovery.

As Sullivan moves forward, he will attend a substance abuse treatment center like Visa Taos Renewal Center, where he can focus on recovering from his meth addiction. Soon, the lawman may be moving forward in a positive direction, just as he hoped, with the assistance of a meth addiction recovery center.

One of Santa Fe’s most high-profile criminals is facing charges once again for violating his parole. Daniel Martinez, 46, was acquitted for a murder and a rape charge in 1992, and the highly publicized trial has made him a well-known local criminal. However, his run-ins with the law have been numerous in the years since, and Martinez has spent many years in prison, off and on, in the two decades following his acquittal.

Many of Martinez’s crimes have been drug related, although one of his more recent non-drug-related crimes, a May 2010 kidnapping led to a probation charge in effect through October 2016. Since his sentencing in the kidnapping case, Martinez has been arrested twice for probation violations. Recently, Martinez and his wife allegedly attacked a woman in their home, but charges were dropped in this January 3, 2012, incident.

This most recent arrest occurred Wednesday, March 21, after Martinez tested positive for cocaine use, which is a violation of his parole. Martinez alleges that his doctor prescribed him medication that contained cocaine. He is scheduled to be released on May 29th barring any delays.

It may seem obvious to some that the man needs drug rehabilitation from a New Mexico treatment center. An addictions treatment center, could help. The renewal center focuses on rehabilitating those in need through counseling and other treatments, much of which focuses on treating the underlying causes of drug addiction. If you or a loved one are in need of a New Mexico treatment center, contact Vista Taos today.