Prescription drug addiction examined by MTV’s ‘True Life’
As a testament to the pervasive prescription drug problem plaguing America’s youth, MTV’s reality show True Life recently aired a segment called I’m Addicted To Meds, which delves into the lives of two young Americans suffering from the grip of prescription drug addiction.
In the show’s description, the producers are absolutely right when they say that “prescription drugs are fast becoming the drug of choice for millions of young Americans, who mistakenly believe they are safer than street drugs.”
The show covers the plight of two young adults who are “fighting to free themselves from the clutches of these potentially deadly substances,” both addicted to forms of narcotic painkillers that have gripped thousands of people with prescription drug addiction and are among the most abused drugs in the country.
Dana, a 20-year-old from New Jersey who succumbed to prescription drug addiction as a teenager, began using drugs at age 12 and, by 17, had settled on her drug of choice, roxicodone, a generic form of the narcotic pain reliever oxycodone. Roxicodone is designed to be immediate release for rapid pain relief.
Evan, another 20-year-old, is an audio engineering student from Northern California. Evan experimented with drinking and drugs as a teenager until he tried the narcotic pain reliever OxyContin, immediately making it his drug of choice. OxyContin is a brand name for an oxycodone-based extended-release pain reliever.
Dana has been in and out of rehab 15 times and is unable to attend school or hold a job. On the show, we see her resort to cleansing to take her mind off Roxycodone use for as many minutes as she can. She is struggling to stay in the halfway house in Florida where her parents sent her for treatment. But she betrays family and friends, and ultimately herself, trying to escape her addiction to prescription drugs.
Evan has attended treatment centers in the past and has been prescribed other drugs to help control his addiction. But he’s still haunted by the sense of escape and comfort the drug brings. He seems determined to stay clean, when his girlfriend comes to visit him, he undergoes the ultimate test, because she too is addicted to OxyContin. Evan’s prescription drug addiction permeates every aspect of his life as he fights to reclaim a drug-free life.
Roxicodone, OxyContin, and dozens of other forms of oxycodone and hydrocodone have caused overdose deaths or injuries among thousands of young people. OxyContin is routinely abused by crushing pills to override the time-release mechanism and snorted like heroin or cocaine for instant high. But oxycodone in any form is extremely addictive, and is so abused in some regions that it surpasses heroin, morphine and other street drugs in popularity. In the Appalachian regions of the southeast, she has been known for years as “hillbilly heroin.”
Before a narcotic addict can begin rehab, they must go through a period of detoxification, called “detox,” during which the body tries to overcome the physical aspects of prescription drug addiction. Unless detoxification is done at a good medical detox center, it is often so painful that most do not complete it but go back to using drugs. Once this painful and often dangerous period of withdrawal is over, rehab can begin to address the deeper personal reasons for the addiction.
The only thing we would have liked to see on the show was information about the benefits of detox protocols designed specifically for each person’s unique metabolism and DNA, greatly reducing the harmful effects of detoxification. These programs, called medical drug detoxification, include 24/7 medical supervision to enhance patient safety and recovery.
