Knowledge about the dangers of cigarettes has led to a significant decline in smoking over the past couple of decades, but smoking certainly isn’t a thing of the past. Some people struggle with a smoking habit after years of use while others take up the habit as a lesser evil alternative to drugs or alcohol.…
Since the advent of Alcoholics Anonymous in the early 20th century, each decade has seen a growing body of research and understanding of addiction. Sobriety, once thought to be a matter of morals or willpower, has been recognized as addressing and treating a blend of genetics, environment, biology, and more. In fact, people who have…
Reports that a life-threatening, flesh-eating drug is growing increasingly popular are alarming addiction professionals and medical personnel worldwide. What is “krokodil” and what are the effects of abusing it? Modifying the Delivery Modern pain relief practice often relies upon the fentanyl patch, which delivers an analgesic effect over a prolonged period of time. Drug abusers…
The efforts from those in the medical field and prescription drug industry have successfully resulted in dangerous narcotics and other addictive drugs becoming more difficult to obtain. Although those efforts have resulted in fewer people becoming addicted to prescription drugs, it has not lowered the overall number of people who abuse drugs and alcohol. The…
Prescription drug abuse is the fastest growing substance abuse problem in the United States, with more and more people dying from overdose each passing year, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. What few people realize, however, is that physicians — the guardians of prescription drugs — often become the victims of abuse themselves.…
Music is everywhere. We grow up listening to certain musicians that we can connect with, and their music becomes a part of our lives. We idolize them and feel as if we know them personally, even though most of the time we have never met them. But for some of our favorite stars, we’ll never…
If you love food, then you probably know of English journalist and entertainer Nigella Lawson. Lawson is best known for her work as a restaurant critic, food writer, and reality television judge — but, if you believe her former husband, art collector Charles Saatchi, she is also a former addict who spent 10 years secretly…
Trinny Woodall, star of the British version of What Not To Wear, recently admitted her past obsession with drugs and alcohol made her a “sick person.” Once she made the distinction between being a “bad person” — her words — who suffered from addiction and a “sick person” who needed help recovering from a disease,…
Finally confirming rumors that have been swirling for months, Toronto mayor Rob Ford recently acknowledged using crack cocaine during a “drunken stupor” while serving in office. Although Ford has promised not to do it again, here is why his admission hurts anti-drug efforts. A Public Spectacle Ford, who has appeared in public on multiple occasions…
Opiates are addictive narcotic painkillers that come in legally prescribed and illicit forms. They are also dangerous, and opiate addicts currently suffer from the highest rates of relapse and overdose, according to National Institutes of Health. In the past, addiction professionals regarded substance abuse as a weakness of character rather than a mental health disorder;…