Fighting Back Against Heroin and Opioids in Oklahoma

While there’s many states struggling with prescription drug abuse, Oklahoma has been at or near the top of the list for a number of years. In May 2015, a new report announced that Oklahoma had once again claimed the number one position for prescription drug abuse. Nationally, these drugs are claiming the biggest number of lives – more than heroin and cocaine combined. But gradually, the number of deaths from heroin are growing and may one day exceed the number of deaths caused by pills. Whether it’s pills or heroin, fighting back against this cause of death and destruction is a vital activity.

There’s a very close connection between opiates like heroin and opioids, the synthetic opiates found in prescription painkillers. Chemically, there’s very little difference between them. In the body, they act the same. They kill pain but they also blunt feelings and dull one’s perceptions. The user may enjoy the floating feeling and euphoria but he (or she) may not enjoy the addiction that often follows. He may not enjoy this at all.

For some people, addiction to opiates or opioids occurs instantly, the first time these drugs are used. Other people can use these drugs now and then for years. There’s no telling which way the wind will blow for any individual drug user.

Increasing Treatment Admissions and Loss of Life

Oklahoma has lost too many of our friends and neighbors since the epidemic of prescription drug abuse began. The number of people being admitted to treatment for opioid addiction increased steadily from 2002 through 2010, when painkiller formulations began to change to prevent abuse. When painkillers began to be harder to abuse, some people began to seek out heroin as it is cheaper, easy to find and there’s no doctor visits required. So treatment admissions for prescription opioids topped out in 2010 and then lessened slightly.

Oklahoma treatment admissions for prescription opioids:

  • 2002: 418
  • 2003: 507
  • 2004: 733
  • 2005: 768
  • 2006: 870
  • 2007: 1,141
  • 2008: 1,438
  • 2009: 1,533
  • 2010: 1,628
  • 2011: 1,498
  • 2012: 1,543
Graph of US heroin deaths
As prescription drug admissions began to drop, heroin use began to rise.
 

But as these prescription drug admissions began to drop, heroin use began to rise, as you can see in this graph of U.S. heroin overdose deaths.

Is the Only Solution More Drugs?

Many people believe that the only solution for heroin addiction is the administration of more drugs – methadone or buprenorphine, a drug found in Suboxone, Subutex and other formulations. These are more opioids. They keep a person from going into withdrawal when he stops using heroin or abusing pills. The person has his cravings satisfied by this opioid and he is able to cease living a criminal lifestyle. That’s if he takes the medication – some people do and others continue abusing illicit drugs while they sell their Suboxone. Or they add an illicit drug right on top of the medication that’s supposed to be helping them.

An addicted person entering treatment may be offered a variety of drugs.
Are these drugs really needed
for a person to achieve
lasting sobriety?
 

If it were true that a person could not recover from the cravings and psychological need for heroin or opioids, then perhaps giving them these other drugs would be the best treatment. The problem is that these drugs still have a mental and physical effect on the individual. He is still living each day under the influence of a drug. He is not being encouraged to live a fully sober life when that really is the outcome of an effective rehabilitation program.

At Narconon, we offer no drugs as part of our treatment program. For fifty years, we’ve seen that the proper recovery program results in the end of cravings and a real ability to create a sober, productive life. When a person has an interest in life, when he can control his own decisions, when his cravings are gone or knocked down to a manageable level, then he (or she) does not need a drug like methadone of Suboxone.

At Narconon Arrowhead in Canadian, Oklahoma, we’re fighting back against the destruction caused by heroin. We can help you or a loved one get back the sober life that was lost to drugs or alcohol. Call us to learn more. 1-800-468-6933


http://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/2002-2012_TEDS_State/2002_2012_Treatment_Episode_Data_Set_State.pdf

https://www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rates 

AUTHOR
KH

Karen Hadley

For more than a decade, Karen has been researching and writing about drug trafficking, drug abuse, addiction and recovery. She has also studied and written about policy issues related to drug treatment.

NARCONON ARROWHEAD

DRUG EDUCATION AND REHABILITATION