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"From Heath Ledger to Michael Jackson and DJ AM, the media has recently been flooded with tragic deaths related to prescription drug misuse. Meanwhile, the National Institute on Drug Abuse estimates that 48 million Americans — nearly 20 percent of the country's population — have abused prescription meds. But despite the shocking stats and high-profile celebrity deaths, pill abuse is only now coming to the forefront as a serious issue.
Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict
Seeded on Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:28 PM EST
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Writer Joshua Lyon became hooked on painkillers in 2003, while researching an article about purchasing prescription drugs over the Internet for the now defunct Jane Magazine. In his new book, Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict (Hyperion, July 2009), he chronicles his own multiyear struggle to overcome addiction and profiles the lives of several other people plagued by their dependency.
I recently sat down with Lyon to hear his thoughts on the mammoth, disturbing world of rogue Internet pharmacies, America’s casualties in the war on drugs, and finding the courage to finally put the cap on addiction.
(Interview with Joshua Lyon follows...)
- 1 vote
#1 - Thu Jan 28, 2010 8:30 PM ESTI guess I'll have to read the book to see the downside. As mentioned in the article regarding the range of possible responses, I always have mixed feelings about this type of discussion as it certainly leaves an opening for a crackdown which can result in pain pills not being prescribed for those who need them. Anyone who has watched a terminally ill family member, or even someone who is constantly in pain, attempt to live without them knows the agony one can cause by advocating draconian measures which result in pills not being prescribed for those who need them.
Sometimes the downside of addiction is not the actual pills themselves, but the actions the addict has to take to obtain the pills. ie. stealing others pills because they can't get their own, doctor shopping, etc.
- 2 votes
#2 - Thu Jan 28, 2010 10:02 PM ESTAs someone who needs prescription painkillers every day to have some semblance of a quality of life, addicts utterly sicken me because it makes those of us who legitimately need the medications out to be addicts and makes doctors so reluctant to prescribe anything.
I won't read the book because I'm angry enough just reading about it, but I think he makes a really good point about these addiction vaccines being worthless. People with addiction problems will become hooked on something else if they can't have their primary drug of choice. Addiction is a psychological phenomenon and needs to be treated as such. It has little to do with the substance.
- 1 vote
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