After writing promotional content for non-profit organizations and healthcare professionals for 25 years, Karen turned her focus to drug addiction and recovery. She spent two years working in the trenches in a Narconon drug rehab center and two more years at Narconon International with their drug information services. For nearly two decades, she has followed the trends of drug abuse, addiction and drug trafficking around the world, as well as changes in the field of addiction treatment. As a result of her constant research, she has produced more than two million words of educational and informative material on drug use and recovery so those who are addicted and their families can find lasting solutions. She gives talks and presentations to educate and inform those interested in countering substance use and arming people with educational tools to improve their communities. She continues to travel across the United States to learn the experiences and opinions of individuals related to substance abuse and recovery.
What are amphetamines? This article examines amphetamines, their history, what they’re used for, the harmful effects users may experience, and what to do when someone cannot stop using amphetamines on their own.
The article explains the lethal risks associated with inhalant abuse, especially prevalent among young people due to the accessibility of these common household items. Felt tip pens, markers, nail polish remover, paint—any of these substances and hundreds more can intoxicate or kill. Statistics reveal the alarming incidence of inhalant abuse among students and how and why their abuse can lead to sudden death.
This article explores the growing trend of combining opioids and stimulants, known as speedballing, among drug users. Learn the reasons behind this practice, including the desire to offset the negative effects of each drug or to achieve a specific high considered desirable. The outcome can be addiction, physical harm or death.
What does it look like when a person uses heroin? Heroin is a powerful narcotic and causes sleepiness and relaxation. A person who has used heroin will be drowsy. Their arms and legs will feel heavy. They may nod off unpredictably. At high doses breathing may stop and death can occur.
Because kratom is legal in many U.S. states, some people could get the impression that it is a harmless drug. But since the drug has effects like respiratory depression, seizures and death, this is an erroneous impression.
Methadone is used in both the treatment of pain and the treatment of addiction. But many people misuse this long-lasting drug and wind up addicted to it, with a threat of overdose hanging over their heads every day.
While it's a valuable pain reliever for those suffering post-surgical or end-of-life pain, oxycodone must be carefully administered. Already, this drug has contributed to the ruin of millions of lives, starting with the overprescribing of the pain reliever OxyContin.
Oxymorphone is one of the drugs on a long list of medical opioids abused by those in the throes of addiction. While it is not one of the most powerful ones, it is still capable of ruining a person's life and causing a fatal overdose.
Hydrocodone is often sold as Vicodin or Lortab and is the prescription drug most frequently abused by those who have chosen opioids as their drugs of choice. While it eases pain for some injured or sick people, hydrocodone also contributes greatly to the addiction problems of millions of Americans.
Cough medicine sounds like a pretty innocent and harmless thing to have around the house. But many formulas contain dextromethorphan, an abusable and addictive drug that can put a person in the hospital if too much is consumed.
People who decide to misuse their prescription for an amphetamine drug don't realize the risk they are taking. That risk includes problems like convulsions, comas, addiction and death.
Some people may think that it's safe to misuse benzodiazepines but it is anything but safe. Not only is addiction possible, but death by overdose from these drugs may also occur. Withdrawal from these drugs offers its own life-threatening dangers.
What are prescription depressants? These are drugs that depress the function of the central nervous system (CNS). In general, they are used to reduce anxiety or bring about sleep.
Fentanyl and its analogs are deadly, powerful synthetic opioids that are not only found in supplies of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine. Fatal doses are also being pressed into several types of counterfeit pills. It's never been more dangerous to be addicted to any drug.
Morphine has been around for hundreds of years but it is just as much of an abused and addictive drug as any other opioid. It comes with the same dangers of overdose and the same severe symptoms of withdrawal.
Codeine may be seen as harmless because it has so often been prescribed for children. Actually, it is an addictive opioid, similar to oxycodone. It can also cause overdoses if enough is consumed. In recent years, government agencies have begun to restrict its use among youth to prevent children from suffering harm.
Codeine may be seen as harmless because it has so often been prescribed for children. Actually, it is an addictive opioid, similar to oxycodone. It can also cause overdoses if enough is consumed.
For many people, short-term alcohol rehab does not provide enough time to recover. It takes longer to rebuild one’s self-esteem and learn how to make sobriety one’s top priority. For many people in this situation, it takes long-term alcohol rehab.
By choosing a residential alcohol rehab, a person in recovery has the support and supervision they need to get through the early days so they can build the skills they need to stay sober.
