The struggles and triumphs of an addict

Coming off anti-anxiety drugs (benzodiazepines) Secrets to Success Thinking about trying to taper off any of the benzodiazepines and worried about the withdrawals, your anxiety and your odds of success? Well, a poorly thought out or overly quick taper can be agonizing but it doesn’t have to go that way – a methodical and patient benzo taper makes things much more manageable. Need some advice on how to make sure your taper goes smoothly? Well here are 11 great tips and strategies to a successful benzodiazepine taper from Professor C Heather Ashton. Oxford educated Professor Ashton is considered a leading expert on benzodiazepine withdrawal based on her experiences running a benzo withdrawal clinic over more than a decade. She is also the author of ‘Benzodiazepines: How They Work and How to Withdraw’ which is now more famously known as The Ashton Manual. 11 Tips for a Successful Benzodiazepine Withdrawal 1. Get Confident You can do it! Millions of people have gone before you...

My name is Rev JE Allen. As a young man I was in two very serious  car accidents. I lost a friend in one of these accidents. I suffered a broken neck and spinal injury which led to doctors putting me on heavy narcotic pain killers. I was told I would need the drugs the rest of my life to function. I developed a dependency and then ultimately an addiction to opiates. The drug I was on was no different than heroin when it came to being without. The withdrawals were the same. My life was destroyed and my goals and dreams were dashed. My life centered around drugs for almost 20 years. Then in late 2014 I decided to take my life back. It took a solid year to get over the drug but I did it and never looked back. Since this time I became an ordained Minister and I focus on mainly teen addiction and prevention. I lived this life for 20 years. I have insight as to what addiction truly does to someone and my mission is to save lives. Teens and young adults that I talk to easily open up to ...

Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte, nicknamed “The Punisher,” has called for the executions of drug users as the latest measure in his unmerciful efforts to cut down crime. “These sons of whores are destroying our children,” Duterte said earlier this month in a profanity-ridden speech in front of a crowd of 500 at a Manila slum, the Guardian reported . “If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful,” he said.  Duterte, who has been called the “Trump” of the Philippines for his penchant for profanity, announced his severe crime-fighting measures a day after he was sworn in as president on June 30 with a promise that 100,000 would die in his war on drugs. Before he was president, he was known for cleaning up crime in the Filipino city of Davao, known as the "murder capitol," where he was the mayor for more than two decades. Within the first week of Duterte’s presidency, at least...

At least 33 people were hospitalized on Tuesday from an apparent mass drug overdose of synthetic marijuana, in an area of New York City where the drug is said to be used at “epidemic” levels. Authorities said they began receiving calls at around 9.30am of people collapsing near an intersection in Brooklyn that the news website DNAinfo said was known as the “ epicenter ” for synthetic marijuana – or K2 – use. Brooklyn resident Brian Arthur broadcast live on Facebook from the scene, saying it looked like “zombieland” as he panned to images of incapacitated and agitated people being attended to by emergency responders. “I just came home from work and I’m seeing this, like, what the hell?” Arthur said. “Every freaking step they laid out.” One man who was barely able to stand up wandered into the street as emergency medical staff attempted to help him. Close by, another man was frozen like a statue until he started falling slowly forward, only upright because he was leaning into a f...

It almost always  nowadays starts in a doctors office after an accident or surgery..

In March, the commander in chief of the War on Drugs stood in front of a crowd of policymakers, advocates and recovering addicts to declare that America has been doing it wrong. Speaking at the National Prescription Drug Abuse and Heroin Summit in Atlanta – focused on an overdose epidemic now killing some 30,000 Americans a year – President Barack Obama declared, "For too long we have viewed the problem of drug abuse ... through the lens of the criminal justice system," creating grave costs: "We end up with jails full of folks who can't function when they get out. We end up with people's lives being shattered." Touting a plan to increase drug-treatment spending by more than $1 billion – the capstone to the administration's effort to double the federal drug-treatment budget – Obama insisted, "This is a straightforward proposition: How do we save lives once people are addicted, so that they have a chance to recover? It doesn't do us much g...

                                  America: Addiction by the numbers 1. 21.5 million: The amount of people aged 12 or older in 2014 had a substance use disorder in the past year. 2. 1 in 5: The amount of young adults in 2014 who were users of illicit drugs. 3. 7,800:The daily number of people 12 and over who tried an illicit drug for the first time. 4. Marijuana: The drug most new illicit drug users begin with. Followed by prescription pain relievers and then inhalants. 5. 700 Billion: The amount the abuse of tobacco, alcohol, and illicit drugs costs to our Nation annually in costs related to crime, lost work productivity and health care. 6. 3x: The amount the business of recovery has increased in the last 25 years. 7. 14,000: The amount of addiction treatment facilities. 8. 35 billion: The an...