Addiction and abuse and the need for rehabilitation and to what degree of rehabilitation is needed, have long been an involved and much discussed topic for many in the field of drug abuse and addiction treatment. Drug Abuse or substance abuse is often defined as the continued use of any substance like cocaine, heroin methamphetamine, and prescription drugs for non medical reasons or outside the directions given by the medical practitioner. Drug addiction or alcohol addiction is defined by many as the repetitive use of a substance after negative consequences have been experienced.

AddictionWatch counselors speak to hundreds of addicts and alcoholics in search of treatment for addiction for a variety of drug addictions and substance abuse. When seeking treatment for addiction it’s not necessarily something that has to be looked at with a microscope and ferreted out as to the different substances abused.

If you don’t think its all about the money when it comes to prescription drugs and prescription drug addiction please think again. “Health care” giant Johnson and Johnson has allegedly been paying kickbacks to those who will push the powerful antipsychotic to the elderly. It’s so maddening to see these things happen right in front of our face and wonder how the hell we can victim to it. Do you have a loved one in a nursing home? And have ever gone to visit only to find your family incoherent and resting. Well get a clue its not because they are old, it’s the drugs they’re on and it’s called chemical restraint.

On Jan 5th Minnesota officials weighed in on the fight against prescription drug addiction by launching a statewide database that will track the sale and distribution of powerful pain killer drugs like Oxycontin and Vicodin and other drugs with high potential for addiction. Doctors, Dentist and pharmacists can employ the Minnesota Prescription Monitoring database in helping uncover habitual recipient’s addictive drugs. 

I have been clean from drugs and alcohol for four years almost five. During the time that I first decided to get help I had been apart of a reverse sting operation which ultimately made me realize that I needed help for my addiction.  I went through rehab on my own after I was released from police custody and began to get my life back together. 

Across the U.S. there are countless millions struggling with addiction and the recession is both highlighting this previously existing problem as well as causing the need for treatment to become apparent as well.

The recession is rough on everyone. From farms to inner city shop owners the recession is disrupting literally everything about the lives of Americans today. Everywhere you look there is uncertainties, disappointment and lack of trust in the basic stable culture we know as U.S. citizens. For the millions currently addicted to drugs and alcohol this is merely a heightened form of how they already experience the world around them.

A person addicted becomes ultimately overwhelmed by life. Every argument, financial struggle and social agitation can seem like a catastrophe to those who's attention is completely distracted by their drug and alcohol use and the problems created by that usage.

When you add to this misery a nation in peril from recession's lost jobs, home foreclosures, poverty bound families and constant alerts from the media that things are only getting worse, you wind up completely collapsing an individual who would have previously been able to hand on.

When this collapse occurs, drug and alcohol use escalates. The legal, familial and economic factors around the person addicted become worse and more exaggerated. Wives leave, addict's get arrested and employers who used to tolerate lateness and non-production now can't afford too. This sets the stage for a huge plunge down the spiral of addiction that only has 3 ends, death, long term imprisonment or recovery.

This then can be a good thing for some. This recession driven chaos can ultimately produce a new awareness of an ongoing addiction problem and make it real to the individual addicted that he/she simply can't manage life and therefore must seek help if they are to every restore any kind of quality to their existence.

Of course, this can be the windfall a loving family has been waiting on because it means they now have a possibility of restoring the person they love back to condition of being a part of the family instead of someone who is ripping the family apart.

Once the individual realizes that they must get help, the family would be advised to seek that help immediately. Especially in this day and age, families need every member contributing anything they can. This includes some of the most creative and intelligent people alive whom have also fallen prey to substance abuse. Getting the person treatment doesn't just save the life of someone you love. It can also mean continued survival for a family struggling to make ends meet.

Addiction intervention is often needed to help a person break free from the severe cravings for the drugs they have become addicted to long enough to get the help they so desperately need. Millions of addicts realize at various times how degraded their life has become and know full well that they must somehow leave the substance abuse behind.

Treatment for addiction is one of the most needed services in the U.S. Today. There are millions in the country suffering from addiction to drugs and alcohol and for many of them treatment for addiction will be the only hope to regain any sort of productive enjoyable life. However, addiction resources vary widely in availability, cost, treatment modality etc.

Addiction relapse is a very common occurrence. Millions attempt to quit using drugs and alcohol daily and with well founded determination. Their lives are being ruined by the usage of the drug they now seek to let go.

Drug addiction is miserable. Problems in life accumulate every day until it seems like there is nothing but problems in life. The person who has fallen prey to drug addiction will often feel alone and completely misunderstood since the people in their life who love them have little or no knowledge of the misery and slavery associated with their condition.