Crowd learns dangers and effects of prescription drug abuse

On Oct. 26, the Alcohol Chemical Dependency Program held a prescription drug abuse presentation at the Senior Center in Hogansburg with Presenter Michael Nerney. Those in attendance include police service, social workers, educators, and other interested community members.

Mr. Nerney included a short history of pain killers and the development of opium, morphine, and heroin. These narcotics are so addicting because they have access to the part of the brain, the limbic system, that control emotion. When people put these drugs into their bodies they experience a high, a sense of elation and euphoria.

In the body, these drugs change internal chemical levels of endorphins and relax muscles. Endorphins are very powerful, so powerful that getting high becomes more important than the things that once brought feelings of joy in life: family, children, job, life. Muscles become so relaxed that skin appears loose and the muscles controlling digestion can actually stop resulting in extreme constipation. Eventually, the brain cells become desensitized to the drug and the liver produces more enzymes to break down the drug in the body that the body builds up a tolerance and will require more of the drug to get the same effect.

The only way to reverse tolerance is detox, which is an incredibly uncomfortable process which feels much like the worst flu that anybody has ever experienced. There can be 21 days of pain, vomiting, diarrhea, muscle spasms (kicking the habit), and goose bumps (cold turkey). Even once the drug has left the system there is still an embedded emotional memory of the high that can last years after which is one reason why it is so difficult for some who are addicted to get off prescription drugs.

The need for prevention of prescription drug abuse is crucial: abusing prescription drugs is harmful to families because the drug becomes more important to the addict than providing and caring for family; it is becoming increasingly easy to abuse prescription drugs in society today with technology and slow reaction time by the government; and because of tolerance, more powerful and lethal drugs are being created with mortifying effects.

Photo by Mary La France