Posted by Pennie Lane on August 24, 2001, at 22:38:43
In reply to Abuse of Prescription Medication, posted by Rosa on August 24, 2001, at 16:50:21
Rosa,
You probably already know the problems of abuse involving prescription medicine are not as simple as some replies to your post would indicate. But the problems of prescription drug abuse probaby cannot be solved by simply clicking to a narca-non site and contemplating certain prose, either. In part, the problems are cultural, and involve individuals' expectations and various views of what is considered "normal."
While some regulars at this site probably do have severe mental health problems, which in some cases have been improved by prescription medications, the correlation between etiology, diagnosis and treatment, in the mental health system at large, is tennuous and hardly consistent. The mental health system is used now, as it long has, as a place to bring family members who for whatever reason do not fit in, and where individuals can manipulate the systems to obtain the specific meds they prefer. The claim that anti-depressants and anti-psychotics are not often abused and therefore pyshciatric drugs are not commonly abused is a falacious argument. The claim that psych drugs help some people, therefore you should not be concerned about abuse in other situations is an indifferent and somewhat uncaring stance.
Oxycontin abuse is probably a poor example of abuse of prescription psych drugs. Oxycontin is a pain med, and most problems with Oxycontin stem from diversion or theft of legitimately prescribed dosages (including in some of the pending lawsuits.) Opiods of all sorts have long been diverted for unauthorized use, but psychiatric drugs also created the risk of diversion and abuse. The psychiatric drugs most likely to be abused include amphetamine-class drugs, and sedatives. The more respected a person is as a professional, the greater the likelihood that a doctor will trust their judgement and supply amphetamines or hypnotics based on casual complaints. Adult caretakers of youth, and caregivers for the elderly are also likely candidates for reporting symptoms that reflect the caregiver's personal preference for acceptable behavior instead of a legitimate psychiatric complaint.
Many psych drug abusers would seem to be the least likely; who would guess that the chief justice of the largest state court system in the United States would become a victim of his own abuse of prescription medications.
For anyone who is seriously interested in the problem of prescription drug abuse (and not for those interested in foisting moral judgements or for those anxious to defend their own choice of medications) former New York Chief Justice Sol Wachtler describes his experience with prescription drug abuse in "After the Madness."
A few excerpts from the Chief Justice's jailhouse memoire:
Introduction
(page 3, first words of book…) The facts of my case have been well publicized. I dwell on them not to excuse my wrongful conduct but to explain how I wound up in prison and how the abuse of drugs, even those legally prescribed, and untreated mental disorder, can destroy.
The decomposition of my life began slowly, almost imperceptibly. ...
(page 4) While suffering this profound depression, and not wanting to bear the stigma of seeing a psychiatrist, I attempted to self medicate. I was able to convince one doctor to prescribe Tenuate, an amphetaminelike drug I used to elevate my energy level and thereby mask my depression. (I took 1400 of them in a four month period). And because I could not sleep, I was able to convince another doctor to prescribe a hypnotic called Halcion (I took 280 of them during the same four months). Still another doctor gave me a prescription for Pamelor, an antidepressant. And there were others. All of these drugs taken by themselves have dangerous side effects. Taken together the reaction can be devastating. In my case it contributed to and exacerbated a diagnosed manic-depressive (bipolar) disorder.
(Page 7, from Watchler's post arrest psychiatric report by Doctors William A. Forsch (Cornell) and Frank T. Miller (Payne Whitney): “Judge Watchler’s severe mental illness is best categorized as drug induced and exacerbated bipolar disorder (manic depression).”
(page 9 before his arrest) ...I told the doctor only what I wanted to reveal...
(page 13) I was in Sedona, Arizona, to address the Nevada Bar Association. I couldn’t sleep. I had taken two Halcion and two Unisom and still I couldn’t sleep. Was it the three Tenuate I had taken that afternoon to keep me from depression? Maybe but at the time I didn’t think I really needed the sleep – what I needed was time to think....
...And suddenly it came to me, a manically induced epiphany...
poster:Pennie Lane
thread:75755
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010822/msgs/76304.html