Health News
- Drug Developed To Treat Addiction Is Being Abused, So Much That Clinics Have Been Opened To Sell It
"Suboxone, a popular and highly touted medicine designed to get people off opioids such as painkillers and heroin, is increasingly being abused, sold on the streets and inappropriately prescribed, according to doctors and drug control and law enforcement...
- More Treatment Needed To Deal With Painkiller Abuse, Expert Witness Tells Senate Caucus; Mcconnell Says Jail Helps, Too
Addiction to prescription painkillers, and increased addiction to heroin by people originally hooked on prescription medicine, is "a public health disaster of catastrophic proportions" that "was caused by the medical community," the chief medical officer...
- In Starting Its Sixth Package In Series On Prescription Drug Abuse, The Courier-journal Shows Treatment Programs Fall Short Of Need
Brittany Crouch suffers through withdrawal in Frenchburg before leaving for treatment in Lexington, as daughter Kaylee Adams, 3, cries. (C-J photo by Alton Strupp)"In a state plagued by one of the worst prescription-drug abuse problems in the nation ....
- Veteran Journalist Sees Hope In Residential Drug Recovery Program
"Kentucky's struggle to help its citizens who suffer from dependency on drugs and alcohol recently reached an impressive goal when leaders of that struggle who are prominent in different political parties celebrated the official opening of a $5 million...
- Drug Czar Coming To Kentucky To Look At Prescription Pill Abuse
The White House drug czar will visit Kentucky next week to investigate prescription pill abuse, a problem he called "heartbreaking." In a four-day tour, Gil Kerlikowske, President Obama's chief advisor on drug issues, will meet with law-enforcement...
Health News
Big papers' Page 1 stories spotlight recovery center for pill addicts, lack of state program for problem gamblers
Gripping stories from recovering addicts, on the front pages of Kentucky's two largest newspapers this morning, highlight Kentuckians' fights against all types of addiction, from gambling to drugs.
Hope of recovery emerges from Laura Ungar's story in The Courier-Journal that focuses on the Isaiah House recovery center in Willisburg. A gymnasium at the site has been transformed into a factory of sorts, where a pill addict who has been clean three weeks polishes car parts, while a morphine addict with 103 days? sobriety hammers nails into wood to make pallets, Ungar reports.
Work is an essential part of recovery at the Isaiah House, giving structure to chaotic lives, teaching job skills and building confidence. ?It gives them a sense of purpose, of accomplishment,? Executive Director Mark LaPalme told Ungar. ?They get their dignity back ? that?s what work does.?
LaPalme, a Connecticut native and recovering cocaine addict, said he started Isaiah House in his basement in 1999, after a spiritual experience moved him to set aside seven bedrooms for other addicts. Today, the house helps to rebuild the lives of drug and alcohol addicts, while promoting worth ethic and responsibility throughout the recovery process (Read more).
Jack Brammer of the Lexington Herald-Leader writes about Kentucky's lack of a state program to treat problem gamblers. It is one of 13 states without such a program.
Billy Stephens, 66, Hawesville Mayor Rita Stephens' husband, said he lived a "a life of lies" with his gambling addiction, but with professional treatment, has not gambled since 2010. When he finally sought treatment, he could find no affordable treatment in Kentucky. The family had to borrow money to pay for his $6,000 treatment in a 36-day program in Louisiana, which is free to residents of the Bayou State.
Hope of recovery emerges from Laura Ungar's story in The Courier-Journal that focuses on the Isaiah House recovery center in Willisburg. A gymnasium at the site has been transformed into a factory of sorts, where a pill addict who has been clean three weeks polishes car parts, while a morphine addict with 103 days? sobriety hammers nails into wood to make pallets, Ungar reports.
Work is an essential part of recovery at the Isaiah House, giving structure to chaotic lives, teaching job skills and building confidence. ?It gives them a sense of purpose, of accomplishment,? Executive Director Mark LaPalme told Ungar. ?They get their dignity back ? that?s what work does.?
LaPalme, a Connecticut native and recovering cocaine addict, said he started Isaiah House in his basement in 1999, after a spiritual experience moved him to set aside seven bedrooms for other addicts. Today, the house helps to rebuild the lives of drug and alcohol addicts, while promoting worth ethic and responsibility throughout the recovery process (Read more).
Jack Brammer of the Lexington Herald-Leader writes about Kentucky's lack of a state program to treat problem gamblers. It is one of 13 states without such a program.
Billy Stephens, 66, Hawesville Mayor Rita Stephens' husband, said he lived a "a life of lies" with his gambling addiction, but with professional treatment, has not gambled since 2010. When he finally sought treatment, he could find no affordable treatment in Kentucky. The family had to borrow money to pay for his $6,000 treatment in a 36-day program in Louisiana, which is free to residents of the Bayou State.
"My addiction almost destroyed me," he told Brammer. "My insurance in Kentucky would have helped with my treatment if it were alcohol. But it was gambling." (Read more)
- Drug Developed To Treat Addiction Is Being Abused, So Much That Clinics Have Been Opened To Sell It
"Suboxone, a popular and highly touted medicine designed to get people off opioids such as painkillers and heroin, is increasingly being abused, sold on the streets and inappropriately prescribed, according to doctors and drug control and law enforcement...
- More Treatment Needed To Deal With Painkiller Abuse, Expert Witness Tells Senate Caucus; Mcconnell Says Jail Helps, Too
Addiction to prescription painkillers, and increased addiction to heroin by people originally hooked on prescription medicine, is "a public health disaster of catastrophic proportions" that "was caused by the medical community," the chief medical officer...
- In Starting Its Sixth Package In Series On Prescription Drug Abuse, The Courier-journal Shows Treatment Programs Fall Short Of Need
Brittany Crouch suffers through withdrawal in Frenchburg before leaving for treatment in Lexington, as daughter Kaylee Adams, 3, cries. (C-J photo by Alton Strupp)"In a state plagued by one of the worst prescription-drug abuse problems in the nation ....
- Veteran Journalist Sees Hope In Residential Drug Recovery Program
"Kentucky's struggle to help its citizens who suffer from dependency on drugs and alcohol recently reached an impressive goal when leaders of that struggle who are prominent in different political parties celebrated the official opening of a $5 million...
- Drug Czar Coming To Kentucky To Look At Prescription Pill Abuse
The White House drug czar will visit Kentucky next week to investigate prescription pill abuse, a problem he called "heartbreaking." In a four-day tour, Gil Kerlikowske, President Obama's chief advisor on drug issues, will meet with law-enforcement...