Drug Rehab Centers in Newfoundland
Drug Rehab Services is a no cost referral agency in Newfoundland for drug and alcohol dependency. We have helped thousands of persons get help in the following services:
- Prescription drugs addiction
- Long term drug rehabs
- Crack and cocaine addiction
- Detox centers
- Private drugs and alcohol treatments
- Alcoholism
Our goal is to give you the best advice possible for treatments so you or a loved one get a drug free life. Alcoholism is the major addiction problem in Newfoundland. This is why there are some alcohol treatment facilities. But there are also drug rehab centers so that drug addicts can get the help they need.
Newfoundland Information and Situation
Newfoundland is a Canadian province on the east part of Canada. This easternmost Canadian province comprises two main parts: the Newfoundland island off Canada's eastern coast, and Labrador on the mainland to the northwest part of the island. Newfoundland has been the 10th province of Canada in 1949. Before that date, it was part of the United Kingdom.The population of Newfoundland is estimated over 500,000 people. Most of the population of Newfoundland Labrador lives on the Island. Alcohol is a major concern amongst the population of the province. There are over 20% of the population who is addicted to other drugs or alcohol. That is why the province needs more alcohol and drug rehab treatments within the province and around it. Ecstasy is a growing concern in the young adult and adolescent population of the province. The population definitely suffers the lack of treatment facilities of the province. The province could definitively use more drug rehab centers in order to truly help all the drug and alcohol addicts.
Newfoundland OxyContin Abuse
In the province of Newfoundland makes up 21% of all the transactions made at local pharmacies in all of Atlantic Canada for prescription painkillers just like OxyContin. This is a growing problem in the province and has lead to a spike in people looking for treatment to handle the problem. Another growing problem among the native Inuit people living in Labrador is the growing problems of young people, mainly teenagers abusing inhalants in parts of Labrador. The Federal and Provincial governments of Canada have all put forward the resources to help handle this problem. These resources have been spent to help relocate certain communities, help build social programs, and provide addiction treatment resources. Newfoundland and Labrador are continuing to handle this problem, and has also been facing the ongoing problem of alcohol abuse in the province. DUI charges in Newfoundland can be very severe, especially for multiple offenders. When prescription drugs start being a problem in someone's life, help is really needed and that is why drug rehab centers are necessary so that help can be delivered swiftly and professionally.
There needs to be more and more drug rehab centers in order to treat the Oxycontin and other drug addicts.
Drug Use Overview in Newfoundland
Newfoundland and Labrador have a population of 527,000. It is part of the Maritime provinces.
As is the case with New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, Newfoundland has a large and ever-increasing problem with opiate-based drugs such as Oxycontin.
Article
Oxycontin a 'nuclear bomb': Police officer describes explosive growth of 'oxy' SOURCE: The Telegram BYLINE: Will M. Hilliard BODY: The Sonya Harvey story that made national headlines in recent months -- about a young St. John's woman's fight against a chronic oxycontin addiction -- is one RNC Const. Jason Sheppard is seeing played out time and again as more people become hooked on the controversial painkiller. "Oxycontin is a nuclear bomb compared to other drugs -- I haven't seen anything like this before," Sheppard told a group of nurses Friday during the Association of Occupational Health Nurses of conference. "There is no fragment of society it doesn't touch." And if government and the medical establishment doesn't Crack down on the rampant abuse of the prescription narcotic known on the street simply as "oxy", Sheppard said, the situation could reach epidemic proportions. He said the police's hands are tied. Oxycontin is a government-regulated pharmaceutical that can be obtained from any family physician and can be covered by medicare. He said the police are used to combating drug lords, not pharmaceutical corporations. The tablets can be bought at a pharmacy for about $7 a pop, but on the street are sold for up to $80 apiece. Sheppard, a criminal intelligence officer assigned to monitor oxycontin abuse last September following the deaths of two addicts, said this province has the highest rate of oxycontin abuse in Canada. The province's chief medical examiner, Dr. Simon Avis, has since linked oxycontin to seven deaths and the Drug is suspected in others. Sheppard said it's the first big drug problem the province has ever had. While heroin and crack cocaine do turn up from time to time in police raids, Sheppard said they have not caught on here as in bigger cities -- partly because of the risks of smuggling drugs to the island and the fact many people have seen the devastation the drugs have caused elsewhere. "This one came in the back door," he commented. Sheppard estimated that 99.5 per cent of oxycontin tablets in circulation are obtained from doctors. Some street users believe oxycontin is safer than Drugs like cocaine and Heroin, which are often mixed with other chemicals. Sheppard said the Newfoundland medical board must be given more power to deal with doctors who prescribe too much oxycontin, as well as "unscrupulous" doctors alleged to have traded the drug for sexual favors. One study showed the number of doctors prescribing the drug to patients has risen, resulting in about a 600 per cent increase in sales in Newfoundland of oxycontin 40- and 80-milligram tablets, and about a 200 per cent increase in the 10- and 20-mg tablets. Abusers are obtaining the drug through double-doctoring -- visiting more than one doctor in an attempt to obtain multiple prescriptions. They're also forging doctor prescriptions.
The delayed report of a task force, struck by the provincial government a few months ago to recommend actions that should be taken to combat abuse, is expected within weeks another concern, Sheppard said, is that given the pill's ubiquity and the fact drug rehabilitation clinics in the province won't accept anyone who is still under the influence of oxycontin -- they have be clean for six days before they can be admitted -- addicts would rather continue taking the drug rather than go cold turkey. He said the withdrawal from Oxycontin is said to be worst than withdrawal from Heroin. Sheppard said users range in age from late-teens to their 60s. Emergency room doctors have complained about being threatened by addicts demanding a fix . Police say the spike in oxycontin abuse has also led to more break and entries into homes and pharmacies. In some cases, armed robbers have held up pharmacies demanding only oxycontin. Some pharmacies now have signs in the windows stating they don't carry oxycontin. "This speaks to the Addiction," said Sheppard. "I know people here in this city who are doing 10 or 12 (Oxycontins) a day, an oxy-80 an hour. I know people who have track marks from their elbows right to their wrists. Two years ago you wouldn't find a track mark in the city, hardly." He said the recovery centre in St. John's reported that in 2001 it hadn't encountered a single case of oxycontin addiction. In 2002, the centre reported 35 people with the Addiction. In 2003 it jumped to 100 cases. He said cases are now being reported across the province.
The drug first hit the market in 1995, manufactured by Purdue Pharma of Stamford, Conn., to treat cancer patients and others suffering from chronic pain. Not long after stories of Addiction began to surface in the northeastern United States, first in small communities with large populations of unemployed and people with disabilities. In Cape Breton, police suspect 16 deaths in 1 1/2 years were related to oxycontin. In an effort to battle oxycontin and other prescription Drug abuse in Cape Breton, a community task force has called for a computerized prescription monitoring program, similar to the one which the Newfoundland government launched with pharmacists as a pilot project. That project was cancelled after government deemed it redundant and too expensive. In a recent interview, Bernd Staeben, past-president of Canadian Pharmacists Association, said the pilot project failed because doctors didn't want their practices monitored. "This is something that we desperately need because this Oxycontin business and prescription drug abuse is rampant," Staeben said. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Fast Facts
There were 43 motor vehicle accident deaths in Newfoundland in 2003. Of those, in every single death alcohol was somehow involved. 18 out of the 43 were found to be directly related to misuse of alcohol.
There were 85 people seriously injured in single vehicle crashes in 2003. Of these, 28 were caused by alcohol. Combining vehicle injuries numbered 183. Of these 18 were caused by alcohol. According to the study, the difference between alcohol being present and being a contributing factor depends on the amount of information available, and the situation of the persons who died. "A motor vehicle fatality was considered to be alcohol involved if there was at least one drinking person in the fatal crash".
In the province of Ontario, for example, it costs a minimum of $200 to see an emergency doctor before they document any incidents or run any tests. If we were to use that as a comparison to Newfoundland, the approximate cost on the medical system for just the serious alcohol related injuries would be $9,200 at the very least. How many medical supplies could be purchased with these resources?
