I Spent Christmas In Rehab

I remember one Christmas where I was so loaded that the nutcrackers started walking around during dinner and I couldn't look up from my plate. Then there was that other year that I threw a tantrum and locked myself in the bathroom through dinner. Oh, and that other year where I nodded out for most of the day on prescription drugs and later threw up in the front yard. Ah, memories. It seems like the holidays tend to bring out the beast in active addicts, for one reason or another. My addiction really put a damper on the holidays for myself, and also for my family. It became a time that we all dreaded, rather than looked forward to.

Then one Christmas, I got sent to rehab. I wasn’t too excited to spend the holidays in rehab, as you can imagine, but at the time, it ended up being the best holiday my family or I had had in years. Instead of a car, or a pony, or a new ipod, I got the gift of recovery. Thumbs down, I thought. Totally lame. I didn’t want to do the crafts, I didn’t want to go to group, and I surely didn’t want to stop using drugs and alcohol, but as time went on, I began to change despite myself. The staff’s patience and love gave me the room and tools to find the best, truest version of myself. I’ve had some really good holidays in Jackson Hole, Wyoming since then, all thanks to that one year I got to go to rehab for Christmas.

drug rehab.

Michael Jackson's Death Caused by Prescription Drugs

Officials investigating the death of Michael Jackson will be looking into his prescription drug abuse as a possible cause of death as an accidental drug overdose . The pop icon admitted to prescription drug addiction in the 90’s and it is likely that his battles continued. Some rumors speculate that Jackson was injected with the heavy narcotic Demerol prior to suffering from cardiac arrest. Autopsy findings will be released in the near future.
Prescription drug abuse is growing rapidly in this country, with prescription drug use eclipsing marijuana use among teens. Teens are increasingly abusing stimulants like Adderall, sedatives like Xanax and Valium, and opiates like Oxycontin, that they acquire from parents’ drug cabinets, friends, and online purchasing. Most parents do not suspect that their teen is abusing prescription medication, however, over the past decade-and-a-half, teen prescription drug abuse has increased five-fold.
It makes sense. When I was using, pills seemed like a harmless thing. I ate Xanax (we called them “zanies”) and Oxycontin (“oxy”) like candy. Pills have less of a stigma attached. While my friends and I would have considered heroin or cocaine a horrible and dangerous drug to try, pills seemed easy and normal- something the girls from Sex and the City might to do relax. I had no idea I was gambling with my life the same way a junkie on the streets gambles with theirs.
Adolescent Drug Treatment helped me see teen addiction as the problem- not the particular substance I abused. I know that the prevailing attitude among teens is that pills are harmless and not nearly as dangerous as street drugs. I hope that with the insane amount of press coverage surrounding Michael Jackson’s death, more attention will be given to the seriousness of prescription drug abuse in our country. I’d rather have a better name for my generation than “Generation Rx”. We can be more than pill-popping zombies I hope. I know I can. If your teen is struggling with prescription drug abuse, help is right here.

If your teen is struggling with teen prescription drug abuse, help is right here.

The Bride Has Cramps?

I just got back from a wedding in New York and I guess I should have asked my readers if they wanted me to bring back any souvenirs. Percocet? Darvocet? Oxycontin? Vicodin? There were more prescription drugs floating around that wedding party than an Orange County high school. I was amazed at how quickly people offered up pills for any malady. The bride has cramps? “Oh here hon, take half an Oxy.” I was sitting at dinner the night before the wedding as one bridesmaid prepared a list of pill requests for the next day and was surprised to hear the bride’s 13 year old sister pipe in, demonstrating her knowledge of pharmaceuticals. “Oh yeah,” she said when I asked her about it. “All of my friends are on that stuff.”
I don’t know if this group was particularly special in their pill consumption or if I just don’t hang out with “normal” people very often. I have been reading so much about the escalation of prescription drug abuse in this country and to see it firsthand was honestly a bit of a shock. I mean, I abused a lot of prescription medications when I was using, but to see someone offer up Vicodin as readily as most people offer up Ibuprofin was kind of scary. I talked to the 13 year old sister some more when we were alone. I saw some fresh cuts on her arms and felt concerned about her, growing up around all of this casual pill abuse. She told me about her friends in 8th grade that are snorting oxycontin and cocaine, and how a friend of hers overdosed on a scary cocktail of marijuana, mushrooms, vicodin, klonopin, cocaine, and alcohol the other day after his girlfriend broke up with him. All of her friends in this suburb of New York City are engaging in some really dangerous behavior. She insisted that she hasn’t tried any of drugs but that her friends pressure her daily. We talked about how it’s hard to not use drugs when everyone around you acts like it’s normal. I hope she continues to resist. She and her friends cut themselves and show each other, and being in therapy is like a badge of honor among them. I hope that she makes it through all of that. I told her about the struggles I had and about the treatment center in Malibu that I went to. I told her if she ever needs anything, or if her friends are looking for help to call me. I guess that’s all I can do, and sometimes that’s a hard thing to realize.

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