Prescriptions of Death
Just this past week, we had a mother call the Narconon Arrowhead’s Drug Rehabilitation and Education Helpline. She was from Bentonville, AR desperately asking for help with her son’s addiction. Apparently, the son has an old sports injury that was causing him some major pain which led his Doctor to prescribe an opioid therapy. It wasn’t long before her son was abusing the drug, which isn’t surprising considering that 1 in 5 people prescribed opioids by their physician become addicted.
After her son was taken off the opioids his cravings for the substance didn’t diminish and as a result, her son started seeking street opioids such as heroin. According to the mother, the entire community where she lives is struggling with some form of drug addiction or another. Heroin appears to be the leading substance of choice with her son’s friends and this further helped her son get access to street heroin.
Drug overdose deaths are on the rise in Arkansas, increasing from 287 in 2015 to 335 in 2016, according to data from the Arkansas State Crime Lab. According to the Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, more than 40% of teenagers in Arkansas have tried prescription drugs and more than half of all teens report that it is easy to obtain prescription drugs from their parents’ or grandparents’ medicine cabinets.
In Bentonville alone, according to the Benton County Sheriff’s Office, approximately 25% of all school-age kids will be offered illegal drugs, usually by their peers, before they graduate high school. 10% of students admit to being drunk or high at school. The drugs most often related to Benton County drug abuse cases (in order of the most to the least) are alcohol, methamphetamine, marijuana, amphetamines, all forms of cocaine. A state average shows that about 50% of the population consume alcohol on a regular basis, with about 14% regularly binge drinking, around 30% use tobacco products, over 15% use marijuana, over 12% use inhalants and over 12% abuse prescription drugs.
Unfortunately, Bentonville, Arkansas isn’t the only community suffering from the scourge of drug addiction.
Should you or someone you know suffer from drug and alcohol addiction please call us. We’re here to help.
