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Every day, the lives of millions of people depend completely on the operators of trucks, airplanes, ships, trains and cars being substance abuse-free. In dozens of studies done around the world, in the National Transportation and Safety Board investigations of fatal and non-fatal accidents in the U.S., drugs and alcohol have come up thousands of times as factors in accidents.
As in the collision of the Cosco Busan in San Francisco Bay in 2007. The pilot was suffering from sleep apnea and was taking modafinil, a drug that can cause confusion, difficulty seeing, hallucinations or thoughts of suicide. One report stated that he was also taking Valium.
And as in the collision of the Metrolink commuter train in Los Angeles in 2005 in which the train struck a vehicle at a railroad crossing. The driver of the car, Juan Alvarez, admitted that he had been trying to kill himself by placing himself in the path of the train but had changed his mind at the last moment and left the vehicle. Mr. Alvarez suffered from an addiction to methamphetamine.
The Federal Aviation Administration investigates instances of pilot fatalities, and between 1999 and 2003, it made tests of 1629 pilots who were fatally injured in accidents. Drugs or alcohol were found present in 52 percent of those accidents.
A 2005 study by The Walsh Group in Maryland found that of 168 admissions to a trauma center for motor vehicle accidents, more than 65 percent tested positive for either drugs or alcohol.
“These facts all point out the urgent necessity to send anyone suffering from addiction to treatment that will enable them to live a drug-free life,” emphasized Derry Hallmark, the Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon is one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers in Canadian, Oklahoma. “Our safety and our very lives might depend on that person who is addicted. They might be driving our bus, administering medical treatment, or being an air traffic controller. For our families to grow up in a safe environment, we must enable people to overcome addictions and achieve drug-free lives.”
To read the entire article, please go to: Transportation and Substance Abuse. Or visit the website of Narconon Arrowhead.
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Drug Overdoses Are the Second Leading Cause of Unintentional Injury Death in the U.S.
Effective Rehab Becomes an Essential Service as We Lose More Citizens to Unintentional Overdoses than Ever Before
The mortality rates from unintentional drug overdoses have been rising steadily since the early 70s, and in the last ten years, the number of these deaths has reached historic highs. Even the “black tar” heroin epidemic of the mid-70s and the crack cocaine peak in the 90s did not approach today’s numbers.
In 2005, the most recent year for which this data has been studied, 22,400 people died of drug overdoses. As a comparison, 17,000 people died from homicides that year, and only traffic crashes account for more deaths than overdoses.
But it’s not heroin or cocaine that’s leading the list of fatal drugs. The top class of drug is prescription drugs such as opioid painkillers which were listed as the leading cause of death in 38 percent of the cases. Methadone alone contributed 50 percent of the opioid painkiller deaths.
Considered as a group, prescription drugs such as painkillers and sedatives such a benzodiazepine totaled 45 percent of the deaths, whereas cocaine, heroin and amphetamines only amounted to 39 percent of the deaths. Studies have shown that a high percentage of those who die of prescription overdoses have a history of substance abuse, that many have no prescriptions for their drugs, and that some alter the drugs by crushing or dissolving them.
“Prescription drug use is so broadly acceptable in our society that, as a result, many addictive drugs are highly available,” stated Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead in Oklahoma.
To read the rest of this article, please go to:
Drug Overdoses. Or visit the website of Narconon Arrowhead.
The mortality rates from unintentional drug overdoses have been rising steadily since the early 70s, and in the last ten years, the number of these deaths has reached historic highs. Even the “black tar” heroin epidemic of the mid-70s and the crack cocaine peak in the 90s did not approach today’s numbers.
In 2005, the most recent year for which this data has been studied, 22,400 people died of drug overdoses. As a comparison, 17,000 people died from homicides that year, and only traffic crashes account for more deaths than overdoses.
But it’s not heroin or cocaine that’s leading the list of fatal drugs. The top class of drug is prescription drugs such as opioid painkillers which were listed as the leading cause of death in 38 percent of the cases. Methadone alone contributed 50 percent of the opioid painkiller deaths.
Considered as a group, prescription drugs such as painkillers and sedatives such a benzodiazepine totaled 45 percent of the deaths, whereas cocaine, heroin and amphetamines only amounted to 39 percent of the deaths. Studies have shown that a high percentage of those who die of prescription overdoses have a history of substance abuse, that many have no prescriptions for their drugs, and that some alter the drugs by crushing or dissolving them.
“Prescription drug use is so broadly acceptable in our society that, as a result, many addictive drugs are highly available,” stated Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead in Oklahoma.
To read the rest of this article, please go to:
Drug Overdoses. Or visit the website of Narconon Arrowhead.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
A Young Woman's Recovery from Devastating Addiction
This is the story of a young woman I recently met and had a chance to interview on her recovery from addiction: Three short years ago, I was smoking crystal meth and snorting OxyContin every day. I was completely hopeless and out of control. My life was spent dancing on a pole in a nightclub, just to be able to afford the next hit that I was going to take in the club’s bathroom.
Self-respect did not exist. Instead, it was replaced by a false sense of confidence that I exhibited to all those who came in contact with me. I hated my parents, my life, and myself. I thought that drugs helped me feel “normal.” I didn’t realize that the drugs just kept the more basic problems out of sight.
On October 9, 2005, I hit that "bottom" that you hear addicts talk about. That moment is as fresh for me as yesterday.
That moment came when I was all alone, sitting in a hospital emergency room. I was covered in blood and looking through my cell phone for someone to come help me. I saw the other people in the ER all had family or friends with them. None of the “friends” I had been getting high with for years would come help me. My family refused to have anything to do with me.
I’d started bleeding heavily a few hours before. Just before I drove myself to the ER, I shot up crystal meth and OxyContin. In the ER, I found out that I was four months pregnant and miscarrying. I was so out of touch that I didn’t even know I was pregnant.
For hours, the nurses monitored my hormone levels as I waited for my unborn child to die inside me. Finally, the doctor came in and let me know that last hit I had taken had killed my baby. Trembling and hysterical, I called my mother. She didn't believe anything I told her because, like a typical addict, I had been lying to her and manipulating her for years.
That was the moment I hit bottom. Instead of calling anyone else to help, I turned my cell phone around and took a video of myself, makeup smeared down my face from crying. I told myself in that video, “Remember this moment.”
For the rest of this story, please visit: A Young Woman's Recovery. Or visit the website for Narconon Arrowhead.
Self-respect did not exist. Instead, it was replaced by a false sense of confidence that I exhibited to all those who came in contact with me. I hated my parents, my life, and myself. I thought that drugs helped me feel “normal.” I didn’t realize that the drugs just kept the more basic problems out of sight.
On October 9, 2005, I hit that "bottom" that you hear addicts talk about. That moment is as fresh for me as yesterday.
That moment came when I was all alone, sitting in a hospital emergency room. I was covered in blood and looking through my cell phone for someone to come help me. I saw the other people in the ER all had family or friends with them. None of the “friends” I had been getting high with for years would come help me. My family refused to have anything to do with me.
I’d started bleeding heavily a few hours before. Just before I drove myself to the ER, I shot up crystal meth and OxyContin. In the ER, I found out that I was four months pregnant and miscarrying. I was so out of touch that I didn’t even know I was pregnant.
For hours, the nurses monitored my hormone levels as I waited for my unborn child to die inside me. Finally, the doctor came in and let me know that last hit I had taken had killed my baby. Trembling and hysterical, I called my mother. She didn't believe anything I told her because, like a typical addict, I had been lying to her and manipulating her for years.
That was the moment I hit bottom. Instead of calling anyone else to help, I turned my cell phone around and took a video of myself, makeup smeared down my face from crying. I told myself in that video, “Remember this moment.”
For the rest of this story, please visit: A Young Woman's Recovery. Or visit the website for Narconon Arrowhead.
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