Prescription Addiction Takes Control of Florida, Whole Country Says Narconon
As death toll in Florida continues to increase from prescription overdoses, whole country fears consequences of prescription addiction.
Several weeks ago Director of the Office of the National Drug Control Policy, Gil Kerlikowske met with the Vice Chairperson of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program Foundation in Florida. The reason for the meeting was for the current prescription addiction epidemic that is overtaking the state.
Kerlikowske announced that an average of 7 people per day are dying in the state of Florida as a result of prescription drug addiction. Currently the problem is not only a state-wide issue but an epidemic that is taking over the entire country, becoming both the fastest growing and the deadliest drug problem. Prescription drug overdoses are the second leading cause of death in the United States. Prescriptions are also the second most commonly abused drug in the country, coming in at a close second to marijuana.
The problem is not only one that is affecting addicts though. Prescription drug addiction accounts for much crime including fraudulent prescriptions, doctor shopping, and even burglaries and other violent crimes. The devastation it causes to families is comparable to no other. When a family loses their loved one as a result of prescription addiction they can only feel confused, defenseless and shocked.
One drug treatment program, Narconon, has been very concerned about prescription addiction as the number of admissions into their program for prescriptions increased. The organization has never witnessed so many drug related deaths in their 46 years of helping addicts as they have with the recent prescription drug epidemic.
“The most important thing you can do to handle prescription addiction is to get help for the addict,” says Derry Hallmark, Certified Chemical Dependency Counselor and Senior Director for Expansion for Narconon Arrowhead. “A person can fully recover from this but the longer someone waits the more probability there will be that the person will not make it to treatment.”
Hallmark adds that Narconon has seen the heartbreak many families have faced who have lost their loved ones to prescription addiction.
“This is not something I would wish on anyone,” he says. “And it happens every day. People die from abusing prescription drugs and the truth is that they don’t have to.”
According to a recent White House study the number of prescriptions in the last 10 years increased from 22 million to 354 million annually.
For more information on prescription addiction or to get help now contact Narconon at 800-468-6933 or through www.stopaddiction.com.
