heroin

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Declaration of the Opioid Crisis as a Public Health Emergency

November 1, 2017 // by Aton Center

On Thursday Oct 26th, President Donald Trump declared the Opioid Crisis a Public Health Emergency. How did we get here? In 2016, according to the CDC, more than 64,000 people died from opioid-related drug overdoses. In particular, the offenders are strong synthetic opioids such as fentanyl that are lethal even at small doses.

Most experts agree that what is needed is greater prevention through education and reforms in prescribing or pharmaceutical practices, resources to provide life-saving treatment in the event of an overdose, and expanded availability of substance abuse treatment. Declaring the Opioid Crisis a Public Health Emergency does a few things.

First, it draws public attention to the severity of this crisis. The extent of the crisis is, in some communities, literally overwhelming their resources. This declaration also allows for some practical changes: the hiring of additional personnel, and increased access to telemedicine services that are essential in rural communities or other areas where people do not have easy access to a doctor. It will also make it easier for grant money to be funneled to the crisis. What this declaration does NOT do is it does not free up money from the federal disaster relief fund to combat the crisis.

We are staying tuned to see what action lawmakers might take to free up additional money for opioid treatment and other essential responses to this crisis.

Kirsten Helgager, PsyD
Psychologist
AToN Center 888-535-1516

How Opioid Addiction Is Leading to Heroin Overdoses

October 30, 2017 // by Aton Center

We are currently facing a very serious and scary heroin epidemic in the United States, one that is blind to social class, gender, age, race, and geographic location. Again and again we read shocking news stories of Midwestern teenagers, young mothers, and powerful business executives who die from heroin overdoses – an addiction their parents, friends, and spouses knew nothing about.

Many of these overdoses started with an addiction to prescription opioids, like Vicodin or OxyContin. It may start as innocently as a high school quarterback twisting his ankle and receiving a prescription for Vicodin. Even after the ankle has healed, the quarterback wants the high the pills gave him.

Heroin is also an opioid and satisfies the same needs of someone addicted to painkillers. Currently, heroin is significantly cheaper and more powerful than ever, leading to a shocking rise in deaths across the country. If you or someone you know is addicted to prescription painkillers, drug treatment is the first step toward recovery, and it could save your life!

Contact AToN Center at (888) 535-1516 today.

Nikki Sixx: Take it from a recovering addict, a lot more could be done to end the opioid crisis – LA Times

October 13, 2017 // by Aton Center

Heroin is an increasing problem and a very dangerous addiction. The following is an except from a real-life story of addiction and help to recovery:

“Heroin nearly killed me. As a matter of fact, it did: For two minutes in 1987 I was pronounced clinically dead from an overdose.

I was at the Franklin Plaza Apartments in Hollywood, shooting up between snorts of cocaine and shots of booze. It was late December 1987. Mötley Crüe had just released our record “Girls Girls Girls” and we were about to tour the world. From the outside looking in, I was living the dream. But in reality, I was in the throes of a disease I couldn’t control, addicted to heroin”

Read the full story in the LA Times Online

“The numbers are devastating. The government estimates that 142 people a day die of drug overdoses. ODs are killing more Americans than car crashes and gun homicides combined. Prescription opioids and heroin are the prime contributors to these statistics.” LA Times Article

For help for you or someone you know with Heroin or any other drug or alcohol addiction give AToN Center a call.

Leslie Sanders
Program Director
AToN Center 888-535-1516

Fentanyl and Heroin Epidemic

September 25, 2017 // by Aton Center

Last month, the Trump administration declared this country’s opioid epidemic a national emergency. The announcement signaled Washington’s concern over the surging rate of lethal overdoses in the US. In 1980, an estimated 6,500 Americans died via a drug overdose. Last year, the number of overdose deaths jumped to more than 60,000 in the US. That’s nearly a 10-fold increase in the annual rate of overdose deaths.

The number of fatal overdoses per year has doubled since 2005, while, in the last 3 years alone, the annual death toll has climbed by 20,000. The sharp spike in overdose deaths in the last 3 years parallels the spread of fentanyl into the country’s drug supply. A synthetic opioid, fentanyl is dramatically more potent than heroin, hydrocodone and OxyContin. It is estimated that fentanyl is 50-80 times more powerful than a typical sample of heroin. Drug cartels now routinely mix fentanyl into the heroin supply, or manufacture it in a powder form so that it presents as heroin.

The cartels also increasingly manufacture counterfeit pain pills that are sold as Vicodin, OxyContin, and so forth, but are in fact mainly fentanyl. Unknowingly, then, people snort and slam what they think is heroin or a pill equivalent, overdosing in the process.

Fentanyl first cropped up in a swath that stretched from Tennessee to New Hampshire. Recent reports from both AToN residents and media outlets indicate that fentanyl has now reached the heroin supply in California. If you or a loved-one struggles with an opioid addiction, please be cautious. It is a dangerous time to be a heroin user here in California.

Dr. Kevin Murphy
Licensed Psychologist
AToN Center 888-535-1516

Internal & External Triggers

August 13, 2017 // by Aton Center

Triggers can be feelings, experiences, people, places, and things that you associate with your drinking or drug use. There are different types of triggers: internal, external, and sensory triggers. All three usually work together to create a craving.

INTERNAL TRIGGERS are feelings that people have before or during drinking or using drugs. For instance, some people may feel insecure about sex and think they have to drink alcohol in order to relax before having sex. Other people may use drugs when they feel angry, lonely, depressed, sad, or bored – but any feeling can become an internal trigger.

EXTERNAL TRIGGERS are the people, places, and things associated with drinking or using drugs. For some people, external triggers might be: places where they bought or used drugs, certain bars and clubs they hung out at while they were drinking or high, people they drank or used drugs with, and even certain days and times, such as Friday nights and holidays.

SENSORY TRIGGERS are related to the senses of sight, sound, taste, and touch. They might include certain styles of music or specific songs, or the taste of a drug. For example, powdered sugar or artificial sweetener, which resembles powdered drugs, can be a powerful trigger for people who used cocaine, methamphetamines, or heroin.

The are many triggers in each category that were not mentioned, but once you have identified your triggers, use some tools like the thought records or talk to someone. If you are in a self-help program, ask for help in a meeting or with a confidant. You can overcome the power of these triggers with help and prevent a relapse of substance abuse.

Paul Aguirre, CADC – II
AToN Center 888-535-1516

Heroin and Opioid Detox

May 30, 2017 // by Aton Center

Detoxification from substances involves your body cleansing itself. After prolonged use of opioids, the brain and the body have changed to feel like they need opioids to feel normal. The detox process involves your body finding its balance again.

Symptoms of opioid withdrawal start within the first day or so in the forms of anxiety, restlessness, agitation, muscle cramping, insomnia, runny nose, tearfulness, yawning and sweating. As withdrawal progresses, people can have nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and stomach cramping. Having a medically assisted detox can help to significantly reduce the physical and emotional suffering of withdrawal.

AToN Center provides an individually tailored sub-acute detox, usually using medications such as Suboxone. Suboxone helps to make withdrawal more manageable, avoids medical complications like dehydration, and reduces cravings which could otherwise lead to relapse. AToN Center also provides a comfortable, supportive environment where residents can begin to heal. Having a supported inpatient sub-acute detox for opioids, including heroin, is paramount to recovery for a few reasons. First, during an unassisted withdrawal the body craves opioids and it will be very difficult resist.

Second, attending inpatient treatment during detox can help you to begin to learn tools and skills, and to start on the road of recovery – not just abstinence.

Kirsten Helgager PsyD
Clinical Psychologist
AToN Center 888-535-1516

Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week

September 22, 2016 // by Aton Center

Last week President Obama named this week, September 18 through September 24, 2016, as Prescription Opioid and Heroin Epidemic Awareness Week. His intention being to raise awareness to the now well-documented opioid problem continuing to claim lives from our rural towns to our major cities.

The amazing thing it that people are still in denial about this epidemic. Much of the general public still chose to think of this ‘heroin epidemic’ as something that young kids are doing. Many people are still in denial that the high functioning adults who are using heroin and/or dependent on opiates are among us. They are working at the restaurant where you picked up dinner, your Uber driver, your co-worker and even someone in your own family.

Our president calls attention to the epidemic and people die daily, yet there is still this level of total denial. How can we change this? What are the first steps? Will dedicating a week be of use and how can each of us continue to decrease the stigma and increase the awareness?

Dr. Sanders

AToN Center 888-535-1516

The Nation’s Prescription Drug & Heroin Epidemic – The State of the Union

January 14, 2016 // by Aton Center

President Obama’s final State of the Union earlier this week made mention of our nation’s prescription drug and heroin epidemic. He insinuates that he will be tackling drug addiction in the upcoming year prior to leaving office, although does not clarify his intentions. Perhaps his efforts will focus on providing better, more accessible treatment?

Or increased oversight of insurance companies to safeguard that they are actually providing the care promised in their benefit summaries, instead of the trend that we see of frequent denials and refusal to reimburse. Now that over 90% of Americans have health insurance, they should be able to use it! I remain skeptical, but I am happy to see addiction getting the attention that it deserves and being brought to the forefront among national security, cancer, and climate change.

Leslie Sanders, Psy.D.
Program Director
AToN Center 888-535-1516

How Naloxone Saved a Life from Opioid Overdose

October 11, 2015 // by Aton Center

Opioid Overdose can happen quickly and the use of Naloxone has saved people from dying. The article posted in the Huff Post Health Living Section talks about how Naloxone saved a young woman’s life who was experiencing an overdose from Heroin.

An excerpt from the Article on Huff Post:

“But Amy was known to the staff as an active heroin user and they recognized what I had formerly only heard about in trainings. Amy was experiencing an opioid overdose. We needed to act fast to help save her life. A staff member carefully laid Amy fully on her back, shouted her name and pressed his knuckles into her breastbone (what’s called a sternal rub), attempting to wake her. She remained limp and motionless. Someone called 911 as I began to perform rescue breathing.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a shot being administered in Amy’s upper arm. After a couple of minutes, she took a huge gasping breath and abruptly sat up. We calmly explained what happened as she looked around in momentary confusion. Soon she was on her feet. A friend wrapped her in a relieved hug. Just like that, the crisis was over–thanks to naloxone.” Huffington Post

To get help with opioid addiction give AToN Center a call to arrange an assessment for treatment in a private confidential environment, in Encinitas, near San Diego CA. 888-535-1516

White House Growing Concerned Over Sharp Spike in Heroin Overdoses

September 15, 2015 // by Aton Center

Over the last decade, heroin has made a comeback in the United States, and the fatal overdoses have followed, in part attributed to a new deadly opiate additive. In response to overdose deaths, which, according to CNN, have quadrupled since 2002, the White House recently announced a new initiative that targets heroin trafficking in five drug trafficking areas that run through 15 states along the Eastern seaboard.

The White House invested $2.5 million into the new program, which also emphasizes treatment over prosecution of heroin users. According to NBC News, “The plan also pairs law enforcement officials with public health workers in an effort to address the causes of the problem.”

Here at AToN Center, we are glad that the federal government recognizes the importance of treatment for addiction rather than just handing down harsh prison sentences. We hope that the money dedicated to this new initiative will help heroin users break the cycle of addiction rather than punish them for their addiction.

AToN Center 888-535-1516

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