Hillbilly Heroin Addiction

It has made the headlines again, addiction to pain killers have taken yet another life. Hillbilly Heroin also known as Oxycodone is one of the most addictive drugs around. These drugs are way too easy to get. As simple as looking in your grandma's medicine cabinet you can find them anywhere. And it is not just oxycodones, it is your sleep medications and the muscle relaxers. Anxiety medications as well can be addicting. Often people don't even know they are falling into a deep trap.

Oxycodone is also known as Killers", "OC", "Oxy", "Oxycotton, and Hilly Billy Heroin

 Oxycodone is an Opiate that is orignally was prescribed for pain.  It was first apporved by the FDA in 1995 and then introcuced in 1996 to the public.  Of course it sold extely well considering you could get hooked on the stuff.  Over the next 6 years 7.2 million prescriptions were written for the stuff.  It was in 2005 that the lawsuits began piling in.

Many celebrities have fallen victim to drug abuse. Celebrities include Nicole Ritchie, Winona Ryder, Matthew Perry, Charlie Sheen, Chevy Chase, Rush Limbaugh and Jamie Lee Curtis. Cindy McCain, wife of the former presidential candidate also suffered from pain medication addiction. Most all the individuals on this list have been able to kick their addiction. Jamie Lee Curtis sits on the board for the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Some celebrities have faced death due to their addictions. The beautiful Anna Nicole Smith and most recently the controversial Micheal Jackson.

As with Mental Health, Addiction has no boundaries race, gender or age does not matter.  I was surprised to see one of the terms being "pill Ladies " when checking out drug lingo.  It  refers to Senior Citizens who sell pills...

The street price of the Oxycontin pills average about a buck a milligram. I found a recent article describing a man who had possession of 700 80 mg pills. See below.

Drugs are an expensive problem in America.  We are up to spending 484 billion dollars a year treateing drug and alcohol problems

As drugs are becoming more prevalent the drug users are becoming more creative. An herb known as Salvia is being used as an hallucinogen. It can be chewed or smoked. It is not considered a controlled substance, there fore the Drug Enforcement Agency can do nothing about it. Data is being collected. Salvia can be found growing along the roadsides. It is not considered to be a party drug and can give one delusional epidoses up to thirty monutes.

 The Substance Abuse  and Mental Health Services Association (SAMHSA)  has a lot of data concerning  drug use and trends.

A new study released at the end of June 2009 revealed that  1 in 5 young adults experience addiction to alcohol and illecit drugs.  Only one in ten of these adults wil recieve treatment.  Less than a third of these adults made any attempt to seek treatment.  Young adults can be a difficult population to deal with.  In my experience they do not think they have a problem and using drugs is OK.

In the last year 1.3 milion emergency room visits were for misuse of pain killers.

in the year 2004 2.4 million people over the age of 12 initiated the use of oxycodone  for non medical reasons.

The misuse of prescription drugs is everywhere from cities to the country.  The link below shows a clip from " The Wonderful Wild Whites of West Virginia"  This film was created by Johnny Knoxville about Jesco the dancing Outlaw and his family.  I featured this clip here because the young adult in the film states " Hey do you want to hear the Boone County mating call?"  And he shakes a bottle of prescription drugs.  The clip below has some nudity and ignorance.  Do not watch if you get offended by either..  I think I will be doing my next hub on these folks...

As Always here are some links if you think you or a loved one has a problem with drugs of any kind.. Click on the links to find resources.