A Look Into Drug Addiction In The United States

Drug addiction is a growing problem all throughout the United States. Drug addiction is becoming more and more prevalent with each passing year, so much so that accidental overdose alone has actually become the leading cause of accidental death all throughout the country. In just one year alone, the year of 2015, more than 52,000 people ended up losing their lives to drug overdose. Of those people, more than 30,000 of those deaths could be linked to opioid or opiate use. And in the years that have transpired since, this number has only climbed higher.

Opioid addiction does not represent all addiction, of course, but it is the leading cause of addiction over the course of recent years, and growing ever more threatening with the passage of time. The year of 2015 again found shockingly high rates of addiction, with more than 20 million people ate the age of 12 or over it addicted to a substance of any nature. And of this population, prescription pain relievers alone accounted for at least two million addictions. In addition to this, more than half of a million addictions could be tied back to heroin.

And in terms of opioids and opiates, heroin and prescription pain killers are quite tightly linked. With more than one fifth of all heroin users developing an opioid addiction, this drug alone is a powerful destructive force in the lives of all too many. But most people don’t start out using heroin. As a matter of fact, up to 80% of all people who end up on heroin and addicted to it will first start out casually using prescription pain killers – and then not so casually using prescription pain killers. Why is this the case? The high on such substances is similar to one another – and heroin is actually much easier to access and afford than prescription painkillers. Therefore, many people who start out with a pill habit will ultimately devolve into having a heroin habit, from which it is most certainly difficult to recover.

And still there are even more types of substance abuse and addiction out there. Alcoholism represents an always prominent one, and is a type of addiction that can be just as destructive and ultimately just as life threatening as any other. Alcoholism has actually been ranked as the third most deadly disease found throughout the United States, as most people who have it don’t get treatment until late in the game. It will take an alcoholic an average of eight years of active alcoholism before seeking treatment, and while recovery is possible, it can be difficult to repair some of the damage that has likely been done by this point.

But recovery is possible through the aid of detox programs and detox doctors. Fortunately, detox doctors are becoming more and more commonplace, meaning that more and more people are able to get help. Many people will actually look to enter a rehab program, but most don’t realize that the vast majority of rehab programs actually require you to detox before you can become a part of the unit. Therefore, working with detox doctors to detox will ensure a safe and fast detox as much as is possible.

Detox doctors can also help to ensure that you have a successful detox. Trying to detox on your own without the aid of detox doctors is hugely difficult – and even impossible in many a case. After all, more than 90% of people who try a home detox on their own will find that they relapse before they ever even fully detox. Working with detox doctors can prevent this from happening. Withdrawal symptoms range in severity, from goosebumps to high fevers to incredibly difficult to bear tremors and body aches, but all can most certainly be difficult to live with.

Ultimately, drug addiction is a difficult cross to bear, but it is one that no one is alone in bearing. Drug addiction is treatable, even if it is something that one will have to live with for the rest of their lives. It can be recovered from, especially with the help of skilled detox doctors.