Ten Reasons to Take Action Against Addiction: #1 - Overdoses

It’s the call no family wants to get: there’s been a drug overdose and you need to come to the hospital. Maybe it’s for a son or daughter. Or it could be for a spouse, sibling, parent or even a best friend.

Fortunately, medical science has developed antidotes to some commonly abused drugs that can save lives, if they can find out which drug was taken in time and if the overdose was not too severe. Unfortunately, some people take too much of a drug or get help too late to survive an overdose.

Since the early 1970s, mortality rates from unintentional drug overdoses have been rising steadily. In 2005, that rate had reached 22,400 drug overdose deaths. The same year, there were just over 17,000 homicides. In fact, in the category of accidental deaths, drug overdose deaths are second only to deaths from vehicle crashes.

What’s more, illicit drugs such as cocaine and heroin are not the major contributors to this increase. The greatest increases have come from prescription pain relievers and sedatives such as Valium. When abused, these drugs can easily become addictive and repeated abuse can lead to mistakes such as overdoses.

“Drug overdoses are a terrible and unnecessary way to lose our loved ones,” declared Derry Hallmark, Director of Admissions at Narconon Arrowhead. Narconon Arrowhead is one of the country’s leading drug and alcohol rehabilitation centers in Canadian, Oklahoma. “They are particularly unnecessary because addiction can be addressed with a holistic, drug-free program such as the one we deliver at Narconon that enables the addicted person to replace addiction with a productive, enjoyable life.”

When the holidays come, some addicted people will avoid family events from the shame they feel due to their addiction. Others will make the trip home. Surveys show that most families try to overlook the addiction so everyone can have an enjoyable holiday, but as one former addict put it, “It was like ignoring the elephant in the living room. Everyone knew it was there but no one wanted to say anything.”

To read the rest of this article, please go to: Overdoses
Or visit the website for Narconon Arrowhead.