Addiction: Is detox a factor in avoiding drug treatment?

  Opiates like OxyContin are hard to detox from

Drug addiction involving detox treatment is often responsible for many addicts avoiding the help. This leaves these people with few alternatives, one of which is to continue down the narrow path they must follow in order to be as close to their drug of choice as possible.

If the waiting lists don't get to you, then it's the thought of enduring at least a week in a detox unit you would swear was invented by Satan himself.

Once chemically dependent, jobs fly out the door, homes crumble, and relationships melt as the addiction worsens. And it appears to those around the addict that they just don't care about anything but their drug. But nothing could be further from the truth. A lot of the thinking about stopping the use of drugs has to do with going through detox, especially opiate, and benzodiazepine addicts, and the inability to think clear enough to set treatment up, and then wait for the call to enter treatment.

Eventually the drugs change the way addicts think, and once that happens, the struggle is on. That is why it is so very important for the loved ones of a chemically dependent person to help them if possible. Not by giving money, or in any way enabling the addict's behavior, but by loving them, and contiually pounding the need for treatment into their heads. Helpiing them set up the treatment process is often crucial for addicts because it just doesn't seem to work out if they do atttempt it themselves.

  Suboxone 8mg tablets

Most often, the addict is not capable of setting up treatment, or folllowing the routines of getting signed up to receive help. If there is any kind of waiting period for entering treatment, the addict is left with nothing other than continuing on their narrow path toward the drugs they need to keep from getting deathly sick.

For opiate addicts, the greatest fear of entering treatment is the prospect of becoming sick from withdrawals. And the state of detox procedures in the U.S. is anything but reassuring for the chemically dependent. With prescription drug abuse and addiction out of control in America, especially with teens, the numbers just keep stacking up with people who fear detox because they know what is going to happen once they stop using their drug of choice.

If a drug called Suboxone is not used in the detox procedure, the opiate addict is in for a very unpleasant ride, and not all detox units use the drug because it is so expensive. At $10.00 per pill from a pharmacy, the cost is quite prohibitive. When an addict needs upwards of 3, 4 or even 5 eight milligram tablets per days, that's like a drug habit in itself as far as cost it concerned.

Even Suboxone has its problems because of the naloxone added to the drug. It is an opioid antagonist, and may bring on severe withdrawal symptoms if not used properly. Some folks don't respond to Suboxone well, and they are basically SOL when that happens.

There is a drug called Subutex that lacks the substance naloxone, but detox facilities, and doctors are reluctant to use it because it is a narcotic with high potential for abuse.

  Cherry flavored methadone, 220 milligrams

 An addict relegated to conventional detox methods using Catapres, (a blood pressure medication), and anti-diarrhea medication, is in for the very unpleasant ride of becoming very, very sick. The medication in this scenario is bacially worthless, and the addict is quite often fleeing back to the streets to get the gorillas off their back with their narcotic, benzodiazepine, or sedative/hypnotic drug of choice. Often, all 3 of these drugs are used in combination, compounding the problems of detox.

Until appropriate medication is employed in drug detox facilities, many opiate addicts will avoid this help like the plague that it is. The methods employed in America to address detox from drugs, and opiates in particular, are basically worthless. (Here come the emails) The UK uses heroin for maintenance and detox for heroin addicts. We basically use methadone, and recently, physicans that are certified in addiction medicine can prescribe Suboxone on an outpatient basis.

Using the same drug a person was addicted to for detox purposes isn't any worse than what is being employed today. If fact, it would probably work better over the long haul, especially combined with aftercare counseling once the addict is totally weaned from the drugs. Of course, you can't keep people in detox centers for months while they detox, but it can still be done just like a methadone clinic on an outpatient basis.

One of the biggest problems, however, is access to care for drug addiction for those without medical insurance, and jobs. Without insurance, waiting lists grow large, and most addicts can't afford Suboxone, or the $80.00 a week for methadone. But you might say, well. then just don't do the drug you are addicted to for a couple of days and then you will have enough money for methadone. It doesn't work that way. Think about that for a little while and you might figure out why.

Employing the method of using drugs of addiction in long-term detox procedures, coupled with counseling might make all the difference in the world if the addict knew he or she wouldn't have to go through the sickness of withdrawals in order to start on the road to recovery.

If you or a loved one needs help with any type of drug problem, contact these sites depending on where you live. SEMCA (Wayne County residents), CARE (Macomb County residents), PACE (Oakland County residents), Drug Free Detroit (City of Detroit residents). For those residing outside the State of Michigan, contact SAMHSA for assistance.

In the flow...

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(Photos of Suboxone and methadone by Michael Velardo, OxyContin photo Wikimedia Commons Public Domain)