Overcoming Prescription Drug Addiction

Prescription drug addiction has become a major problem in Canada over the last two decades. Most people have heard something about it; it’s been everywhere from celebrities like Ozzy Osborne and Anna Nicole Smith to political activists like Rush Limbaugh. On a personal level, if you or someone you love is suffering from addiction to a prescription drug, the situation can be as bad as addiction to illegal substances but harder to spot because the drug was prescribed by a physician. Drug Rehab Referral Services, a referral service for those seeking holistic treatment of drug and alcohol addiction, has access to programs with an up to 80% success rate in treatment.


According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, or NIDA, in 1999 nine million Americans abused prescription drugs. Eleven years later, the problem has only increased. According to NIDA around 20 percent of people in the U.S. have used prescription drugs for reasons other than medical. One of the reasons could be that prescription drugs have become more available. Doctors prescribe more drugs these days and there are more problems classified as health problems (e.g. Restless Leg Syndrome, Pre-Menstrual Dysphoric Disorder). This means that more drugs are available and it is easier for people to access prescription drugs for non-medical uses. From the calls I take, it is similar in Canada.

On the other hand, people often become addicted to prescription drugs because they were taking them for medical purposes to begin with. Some of the drugs prescribed for pain management after surgery are highly addictive opiates like Oxycodone and Vicoden. A person who starts taking these drugs during recovery from surgery or a major injury can become dependent on the drug very quickly. A friend of mine who had been taking Vicoden after major dental surgery told me that after only a few days of taking the drug he started to feel compelled to take more. “Even though enough time had passed that I shouldn’t need pain relief, every time the drug wore off I started to feel like I was going to die if I didn’t have another one. That’s when I knew I needed to stop.”

Unfortunately, not everyone is smart enough to know when to stop. What begins as simple pain relief can easily mushroom into a dangerous problem—addiction. And because the addiction is mental as well as physical, professional programs are required to treat it. Coming off the drugs by yourself isn’t just painful, it could be deadly. The side effects of drug withdrawals can be extremely medically dangerous and certain drugs have to be physician-supervised in order to come off of them. Drug Rehab Referral Services org www.drugrehabreferralservices.org provides referrals to a number of drug rehab programs that treat both the mental and physical aspects of drug addiction terminatively, without just giving the patient a different drug to become addicted to. Their service will help you tailor-make a treatment plan and program as a patient or family member of someone suffering from addiction. A good program gives anyone addicted to prescription drugs hope for a drug-free future.