Drug Rehab Los Angeles: National Rise in Painkiller Addiction Reflected at USC

A national increase in painkiller addiction is mirrored in the microcosm of University of Southern California in Los Angeles. A nearby drug rehab center reports that more and more college students are seeking help for painkiller addiction.

A counselor and marketing director at that facility says that there are a number of reasons for this increase in college age students looking for help:

College age students often experiment with drugs and alcohol. Many students are however loather to try something as strong as heroin and they don't want the junkie stigma attached to someone who shoots up. So they go for something which appears to be much safer - prescription painkillers.

These drugs are easy to come by with on-line pharmacies. These pharmacies are often international based businesses which do not have the stringent guidelines that American based pharmaceutical companies have. Painkillers give a heroin-like high, so that experimental side gets satisfied. What they don't see is that while the so called ‘safe' drug gives them the high they're looking for, the similarities in the neurological effects also gets them addicted. As a further risk, college age students also experiment by mixing painkillers and alcohol without realizing that it could be lethal combination.

By way of example, the same center has seen students addicted to Fentanyl "lollipops." Fentanyl is a potent painkiller first designed and prescribed for child cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. For those children who couldn't take painkillers, this lollipop was the answer. Perhaps because it was designed for children, the dangerous addictive nature of the drug was likely overlooked by these college age students. Without realizing the risks associated with heroin-like painkillers, they dive right in and then find themselves addicted.

The only way out of this cycle of addiction is through effective drug rehab. If you have a loved one attending college, realize that there is a good chance that he or she may have a problem. Without the right program to overcome the addiction, any future may be at risk. Contact drug rehab referral now to get your loved one the help he or she needs.