Teenager intervention and treatment – Ways to protect teens from abusing painkillers in Alberta and British Columbia – Drug Rehabs in Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer and other parts of Alberta by Options Okanagan Treatment Center in Kelowna, British Columbia treating heroin, fentanyl, opiate, drug addiction and recovery.
Teenager Drug Treatment in Alberta and BC
There are several steps that both doctors and adults can take to help prevent teenagers’ access to illicit opioid medicines. Drug addiction researchers have discovered a number of these strategies after studies showed that most teens who misuse or abuse opioids get these medications from adults with both legal or illegitimate prescriptions.
A case has been published in the Substance Abuse journal for the past three years. Both US and Canadian institutions worked to find steps doctors and other adults can take to limit the access to dangerous, addictive opioids by teenagers. The result is several useful and manageable strategies which were developed for this purpose.
US and Canadian Opioid Medications
Opioid medications are either synthetic medications or natural ones derived from the poppy plant. Many different substances exist and each is different in their chemical makeup. Even though they have differences chemically speaking, all prescription versions of opioids do three things upon entering the human bloodstream.
First, they get to the brain and reduce its ability to get or respond to pain signals. This is what then triggers an overwhelming but pleasant sensation known as euphoria. This occurs in the brain’s pleasure receptors and also reduces the rate at which cells communicate between the brain and the spinal cord.
There are therapeutic uses for these medications. They can effectively relieve a number of forms of both moderate to severe pain. They work when other medications do not. They are effective against severe coughs and severe diarrhea which resist other forms of treatment.
These medications are prescribed widely making misuse common. Misuse results in two basic problems. They include opioid abuse or addiction or fatal overdoses. There are millions of people throughout the US and Canada who are addicted to these medicines. Over 70 North Americans die each year after an overdose of opioid medications.
Teenagers and their Relationship to Prescription Opioids
Universities and drug institutes in North America have tracked changes in the misuse of these drugs among teenagers. Year after year, the number of teenagers in 12th grade abusing narcotics besides heroin are going up. Studies have shown that despite this there has been a downward trend. Those who abused these substances went down from about 8 percent to 7 percent.
Figures have also shown that the number of 8th, 10th graders and 12th graders abusing or consuming Vicodin or OxyContin combined have lessened. Many students take these at last once a year. The yearly rate of consumption for both these medications went down for the three grades in the few years leading up to 2017.
Can Adults Limit Access to These Drugs?
According to studies in medical journals like those from Health Medical Centers, Substance Abuse, and the Universities of Medicine, the role adults play in unintentional or deliberate use by teens of opioids is controllable. This is possible for teens as well as younger children. These examinations and studies were done to find the prevalence of parents or other adults providing underage access to these drugs.
Examinations showed that some adults actually shared their prescriptions with their teenagers. Some children and teens sought ways themselves to get at their parent’s opioids themselves.
The researchers disclosed three strategies that adults can use to limit teens’ and children’s access to prescription medications containing opioids. These strategies were also presented to doctors to help them become aware of how to handle the problem.
More doctors are becoming aware of the potential for abuse when they prescribe opioids. They understand this for their adult patients and now, they understand the potential children and teens have.
They will tell adults to lock medications in cabinets or other secure places. Making the drugs hard to obtain is the first step. Disposing of the unused drugs is also a way to prevent illicit access to them.
Authors of the study also indicate the importance doctors have in carrying out these strategies. They point to the need for more research. The additional research will determine more ways to securely limit the access teens and children have to prescription opioids.
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Numerous clients come to us from Calgary and Edmonton and other locations in Alberta and even other provinces for Opiate addiction treatment, meth drug treatment, many other drug and alcohol addictions for rehabilitation because of the uniqueness of our treatment center.
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