Poppies Are More Than a Pretty Flower

How can something so beautiful be so deadly? While visually beautiful, poppy fields hold a more sinister side as one of the largest factors in producing the lethal drug—Heroin, a growing epidemic amongst today’s youth.

It’s no secret that we are currently in a recession and because of that fewer jobs are available for everyone as well as teenagers. Fewer jobs equal less money which leads today’s younger generation searching for new ways to get a cheap high; and that’s where heroin comes in. Mexican drug traffickers have since expanded their reach throughout the United States, covering the Midwest and Atlantic Seaboard in addition to their already heavy presence in California and Texas making the lethal and addictive drug more accessible.

Heroin’s appeal has also changed. What was once considered an “inner-city” drug is now a drug that can be snorted or smoked, and is appealing to suburban and even rural high school youth. Heroin is the new prescription pain reliever. Those pills often cost upwards of 50 to 80 dollars a tablet, while at around 15 dollars a hit, heroin is considerably cheaper; therefore leading to an upwards rise in heroin usage and addiction among teens.

Find more shocking statistics about the rise in Heroin abuse here


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More than Just a Revamp

A complete renovation and improvement..

Technology is always changing. Alcohol and drug abuse trends are always changing. Alcohol and drug rehab treatment programs need to keep up with those trends, and thus, are always changing...

What must a quality drug rehab and alcohol treatment center do to keep up with the dynamic world we live in, full of billions of people and millions of web surfers?—Answer questions, provide quality and up to date information, constantly update, utilize interactive mediums like social media, photos, videos, chat systems, search engines, etc.

We have done exactly that! Recognized the changes and updated our website to accommodate people of all demographics.

We've implemented a user friendly interface, including a search bar so users can find the exact information they are seeking much faster than before. We have linked our home website to our social world where people have a sense of ownership and connection with each other and with us. We have provided multiple ways to contact us directly in case our website doesn’t answer all the questions you may have, or to give you options in seeking the alcohol and drug addiction treatment you need for yourself or a loved one.

Find out what our past clients are saying about us with dozens of testimonials and Google Places reviews. Keep up with our blogs and subscribe to the RSS feed to get them sent straight to you. Or stop by to find resources like Alcoholics Anonymous and Al-Anon Family Groups in one easy-to-find location.

After weeks of brainstorming, developing, designing, and applying, the new "www.TheRecoveryPlace.net" has arrived and we are excited to share this valuable source with you! Please take a look and tell us what you think—it’s a source for you, so we want your feedback.


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Rising Drug Epidemic in New Jersey

“To put it bluntly, today’s young Percocet, Vicodin, and OxyContin users are becoming tomorrow’s heroin junkies, and the demand for those drugs has spawned new levels of crime and violence.” These words, uttered by the State Commission of Investigation Chairman Patrick Hobbs, further highlight the deadly drug abuse epidemic currently affecting New Jersey. According to a state investigation released last Wednesday, crooked doctors, rogue internet sites, and deceitful smartphone applications within the state of New Jersey are roadblocks derailing the attempt to fight this epidemic. Just last year, in an investigation by the State Commission of Investigation it was discovered that law enforcement has unfortunately, been outpaced by the alarmingly advanced technology being used by drug dealers. The investigation also found that the surge in teenagers experimenting with prescription pain relievers, most of the time right out of their parent’s medicine cabinet; is in fact leading to an even more alarming and perilous behavior within New Jersey: heroin addiction.

In an effort to examine what drugs were being used, who was using them, where they were being obtained and how dealers were evading detection, a team of investigators used forensic analysis of more than a dozen front businesses, visits to pain treatment centers, and interviews with confidential informants. One such informant, who sold 500 prescription pills per week in his New Jersey high school at the height of his addiction, stated that after starting to abuse prescription pain relievers at age 11 and after abusing them for three years, the prescription pain relievers no longer got him high. So what did he do next? He switched from prescription pain relievers to heroin at the mere age of 14, and many of his customers followed. According to investigative agent Rachel Denno most teenagers consider prescription drugs easier to obtain than street drugs, with 3 in 10 not even aware that they are addictive. On top of that, according to the Centers for Disease Control, there are more overdose deaths nationally from legal drugs than from cocaine and heroin.

Within New Jersey, drug dealers are adopting new and sophisticated technology at such a quick and efficient pace that it is leaving police and law enforcement scrambling. These drug cartels are not just simply only using bogus online pharmacies that peddle narcotic medications to anyone with a computer; they are branching out and using social networking sites and even video games to connect dealer and buyer right under authorities’ noses. They are even utilizing smartphone applications that allow users to mask their real phone number with any number they choose making tracking calls nearly impossible. And that’s not all that law enforcement has to deal with. They also have to contend with legal entities and professions that are co-opted for New Jersey’s drug trade. As Detective James Scoppa Jr. of the Atlantic County Prosecutor’s office puts it when referring to physicians who sell prescription pain relievers to drug-seeking patients, “We have a real problem with dirty doctors.” Forensic analysis of business records show that it is legitimate businesses such as car dealerships, beauty salons, clothing retailers, and liquor stores, which are used to hide the drug money. By splitting up revenues into smaller amounts and then comingling them with the funds of front businesses, dealers seek to evade the Bank Secrecy Act which requires paperwork to be filed for all transactions exceeding $10,000.

Are you struggling with drug addiction from living in the drug heavy state of New Jersey? The best chance for successful recovery is to remove yourself from the environment associated with your drug abuse. Call us today and find out how The Recovery Place in Fort Lauderdale, Florida can help you even if you are from New Jersey—especially if you are from New Jersey stricken with an unfortunate drug epidemic.


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Life Long Effects of Alcohol Abuse

Impaired judgment, loss of employment, domestic violence are just a few of the many consequences associated with alcoholism and alcohol abuse. Alcohol has been an integral part of society and human civilization for thousands of years. About 2 billion people across the world consume alcoholic drinks; and while it is commonly associated with pleasure and sociability, its use has severe consequences.

According to James R. Milam, Ph.D., and Katherine Ketcham in Under the Influence—A Guide to the Myths and Realities of Alcoholism, Currently, there are over 76 million people who suffer from alcohol abuse disorders. Alcohol abuse can have adverse social and economic effects on the individual drinker, the drinker’s immediate environment and society as a whole. People suffering from alcohol abuse or alcoholism have an increased risk of committing criminal offenses, such as child abuse, domestic violence, rape, burglary, and assault. You may lose your car, your job, your house, your spouse. You may neglect to fulfill all your responsibilities, or even get arrested for driving under the influence. These are just a few of the short term consequences associated with alcohol abuse or alcoholism.

Because these consequences don’t always seem long lasting, it sometimes leads to a sense of denial about the issue. “Oh, I’ll be fine. I’ll find a new job,” or “He only hits me when he’s drunk, everything is great otherwise.” Furthermore, many don’t take into the account the long term effects that have been going on seemingly unnoticed and will affect them for the rest of their lives. Some of the long-term effects of alcohol abuse are:

• Heart Failure: Heart failure is a major cause of death from alcohol abuse and alcoholism with some symptoms of alcoholic cardiomyopathy, or heart disease, being heart palpitations and labored or difficult breathing. High blood pressure is another common condition among untreated alcoholics and a contributor to heart failure.

• Fatty Liver: Whenever alcohol is in the body, the liver uses it for fuel rather than the more difficult and time consuming fat, thus letting the fat build up in the liver. As the fat accumulates, it begins to crowd the highly specialized liver cells, many of which die. This condition, called fatty infiltration of the liver or alcohol liver disease, is where as more and more liver cells are injured, the fatty deposits enlarge, causing the liver to swell.

• Cirrhosis of the liver: As the alcoholic continues to drink, so many liver cells get destroyed to the point where scar tissue begins to form. This condition has a profound effect on the alcoholic’s behavior and emotions. The toxic alcoholic is confused, his thought process jumbled and rambling, and memory and judgment muddled. Even his balance and equilibrium may be affected. If the drinking continues and scar tissue begins to form, the blood vessels will be gradually choked off and the liver cells will sicken and die until the formerly mighty and complex factory of the liver is reduced to a decrepit, fragile structure clogged with poisons, wastes, and dead cells; incapable of sustaining life.

• Gastrointestinal Disorders: Milam and Ketcham in Under the Influence, explain that alcohol sabotages the protective system designed to prevent the stomach from digesting itself by assaulting the fat and protein layer of the membranes and weakening the tight links between the cells that make up this barrier. Digestive juices may now leak through the cells and onto the membranes. This leads to the lining of the stomach becoming seriously inflamed, a condition known as gastritis. Gastritis can be severe enough to cause bleeding, and its symptoms include indigestion, bloating, nausea, headache, and abnormal increase or decrease in appetite.

• Respiratory Tract Disease: In general, alcoholism causes damage to the lungs by interfering with the body’s normal defense mechanisms. This thereby makes the alcoholic susceptible to respiratory infection and injury. The interference with normal functioning can lead to infections, tuberculosis, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and lung abscess. The acute inflammation or infection of the lungs, pneumonia, is a frequent cause of death for late stage alcoholics.

• Cancer: Also in Under the Influence, while alcohol isn't a widely accepted cancer-causing agent, there are strong indications that large amounts of alcohol taken over a prolonged period of time definitely contribute to or aggravate cancers throughout the body. Alcoholics appear to have an increased risk of head and neck, esophageal, lung and liver cancers.

• Pancreatitis: Large and continuous does of alcohol injure the pancreas, causing it to activate and release certain digestive enzymes which, in turn, aggravate the inflammation of this vital gland located behind the stomach and the liver. Pancreatitis is characterized by severe pain in the upper abdomen, often radiating to the back and lower chest, nausea, vomiting, and constipation.

• Malnutrition: All alcoholics suffer from malnutrition to some degree. Large doses of alcohol interfere with digestion and passage of nutrients from the intestines into the bloodstream. Without adequate nutrients, the cells, already weakened by long exposures to alcohol’s toxic effects, are not able to create bone, tissue, blood, or energy. The sick and injured cells thus don’t have the resources to repair themselves, and damage continues to go unchecked.

These long-term life threatening effects often get overlooked in comparison to short term consequences. Alcoholism is a progressive disease and one of the most difficult obstacles is getting an alcoholic to admit that they have a problem. Alcoholics are able to drink more and more each day which further contributes to these long term effects as well as the short term ones.

See the signs in your loved one before it’s too late and help them get the care and alcohol abuse treatment they need and deserve.


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The Lesson Behind Celebrity Relapse

“Amy Winehouse back in Rehab!” One of many headlines taking over the Internet, heard on the radio, talked about around the “water cooler” at work… Yet another celebrity is going back to rehab! How are we supposed to trust that rehab actually works if we are constantly inundated with headline after headline of celebrities that are going back into drug rehab time and time again?

Assuming you’ve been caught a gossip column or two, it seems as though celebrities are using drug rehab like a revolving door. If these celebrities, some of which are role models for today’s youth, and others respected by the masses, aren’t able to overcome their addiction is there any hope for the average person considering celebrity access to drug rehab facilities that are starting to resemble upscale resorts. With so many posh treatment facilities near Hollywood it is easier than ever for stars to check in and out, as if they were on a mini vacation. Yet as luxurious as some may seem, checking into a drug rehab facility often isn’t the first choice for a celebrity who’s in trouble. As Stacy Kaiser, Los Angeles-based psychotherapist and panelist on the reality TV show “Celebrity Fit Club,” says, "You really have to hit your personal bottom in order to get better. Sometimes these celebs are going into rehab simply to avoid going to jail, so they haven't really hit their bottom," Kaiser says. "Or else, they've been dragged in by the law or suggested by their agents or families and don't want to go on their own accord." For instance, in Amy Winehouse’s case, it was her father who pushed her back into rehab again; furthermore, Winehouse is entering drug rehab in order to be ready for performances in Europe this summer, not for her own well-being.

However, many of the celebrities that end up checking back into rehab time and time again, highlights the fact that in order to be successful one must fully commit to the drug rehab program that they are in for it to be effective treatment. According to research statistics from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, patients in a drug rehab program will reach a milestone in their recovery after 3 months, however, that doesn’t mean that everyone’s recovery is done after only three months or that additional treatment will not be helpful. When people leave treatment early their chances for a full recovery drop significantly. Addiction is a chronic disease, something that since there is no cure for, needs to be constantly managed. While there are plenty of celebrities relapsing and reentering drug rehab programs, there are some that set a good example by fully acknowledging that you need to take control of your addiction in order to manage it. Take Mathew Perry for example, who pressured by a manager or parent, wasn’t forced to do so by the law, isn’t only trying to get ready for some new project, and didn’t even relapse; yet he has reentered a drug rehab facility to work on his ongoing recovery.

Lesson to be learned—Effectively treating alcohol and drug addiction requires hard work and dedication; one cannot simply go through the motions to recovery expecting a miraculous “cure.” Celebrity or not, addiction is a disease which requires constant monitoring, and through a combination of individualized treatment and a dedicated work ethic, long lasting recovery is definitely possible…don’t let the headlines scare you from making the choice to live a healthier life!


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Inhalant Abusers Are Older Than You Think

My mom is doing what??

While traditional thinking has led us to believe that adolescents are the ones most likely to try inhalants, a new report has shown that a significant number of inhalant abusers are actually adults. The term inhalants, refers to the vapors from toxic substances which are inhaled in order to reach a quick high. People who abuse inhalants inhale the chemical vapors directly from open containers, also called “sniffing,” or breathe the fumes from rags soaked in chemicals, also called “huffing,” and “bagging,” where the user may inhale fumes from substances inside a paper or plastic bag. Some even go so far as to spray the substance directly into the nose or mouth, or pour it onto their collar, sleeves or cuffs and sniff them periodically. Inhalants can produce mind-altering effects; while chronic use can also cause irreversible damage to the brain, kidneys and lungs as well as death.

There are more than 1,000 products that can be abused by inhalants and can be found simply laying around the house. You know that glue you bought to help your daughter with her arts and crafts? It is one of the products most often abused as an inhalant. These are products that are easily purchased at drugstores and other stores alike throughout your neighborhood. As we have been under the belief that adolescents were the ones most likely to abuse inhalants, it has become commonplace for store employees to refuse to sell certain items that can be used as inhalants to those under 18. However, most don’t think twice when selling the same product to an adult, under the impression that they are all responsible enough not to abuse it.

Yet, as stated above, a new study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, SAMHSA, has shown that 54 percent of treatment admissions related to inhalants abuse in 2008 involved adults ages 18 or older. For example, Erin Davis, a 42-year-old mother of a 16-year old daughter explained, “I am an adult, not a teenager, and know firsthand how these inhalants can destroy your life.” She explained that she inhaled computer duster for two years, starting when she was 38 years old and went on to say that, “the people that I used with were all over the age of 34.”

The findings from SAMHSA’s study highlight the magnitude of the inhalant problem among adults, finding that an estimated 1.1 million adults over the age of 18 have used inhalants in the past year. Now that’s a pretty big number. As H. Westley Clark, M.D., J.D., M.P.H., director of SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Treatment said, “Inhalant abuse is an equal opportunity killer that does not discriminate on the basis of age, background, or gender. Although we have been understandably focused for many years on the danger huffing poses to our kids, these new data highlight the need for everyone to be aware of and effectively address the serious risks it poses to adults and all segments of our society.”


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Drunkorexia

Sure, we have all heard of Anorexia and Bulimia, the two most common eating disorders plaguing our society today, but Drunkorexia? What’s that?

While women are more commonly associated with eating disorders, more than a million males also battle the illness every day, especially in regards to college. Between fraternity binge drinking and the social norms of alcohol on campus, guys are also trying to find ways to control their weight while having a good time as well. That’s where the term Drunkorexia comes into play.

While Drunkorexia isn’t yet considered a medical term, it has become the new slang term used to describe the behavior of someone who skips meals in order to save calories for alcoholic beverages, as well as someone who abuses the overconsumption of alcohol to purge food. Among those that fall into the Drunkorexia category are college-age binge drinkers, starving themselves all day in order to offset the calories they consume that night in alcohol.

While one might think that anorexics would avoid alcohol because of its high calorie count, alcohol abuse by anorexics has become an increasingly common trend. Some drink to calm down or ease the anxiety of having indulged in a meal. Others consume alcohol as their only sustenance; while on the other hand, others still use drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine to suppress their appetites.

According to Douglas Bunnell, the director of outpatient clinical services for the Renfew Center, “There are women who are afraid to put a grape in their mouth but have no problem drinking a beer.” Our society has an obsession with being skinny and combined with the social acceptance of drinking and using drugs, problems can occur. As Bunnell states, “Both disorders are behaviors that are glorified and reinforced, binge drinking is almost cool and hip, and losing weight and being thin is a cultural imperative for young women in America. Mixing both is not surprising, and it has reached a tipping point in terms of public awareness.”

Psychologists stress that the main cause of Drunkorexia is addiction itself. According to the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, “alcoholism and eating disorders frequently co-occur and often co-occur in the presence of other psychiatric and personality disorders.” While, as stated earlier, Drunkorexia isn’t considered a medical term yet, a growing number of researchers have begun to examine the psychological and neurological links between eating disorders and substance abuse.


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