Hello!  Welcome !!! 
Most of you are familiar
with who I am,  but for those who haven't met
me yet, I will introduce myself as Deborah Shrira and  I  am "The Creator"  of  "Medical Assisted Treatment of America." 
 I am the Webmistress, too.  I am the one you report mispelled words,
links that aren't working, and I suppose anything else you find wrong ... 
Seriously, I want you to let me know what  it  is you don't like, but please share with me what you want to see.  I am here
for you, as your servant and I aim to please.  You will never disappoint me by telling me what you want to see more of . If you feel like you waited too long on an answer, then please let me know?  It is my wish to make your visit with us a delight!!!

There is a toxic quality to war that affects the inner life of individuals and, as a collective consequence, the society itself. In the degradation and dehumanization of the individual lies the destruction of all mankind. — Butler Shaffer

September is here!  - - It seems as if time is moving quickly and Christmas is just around the corner.  I had hoped to be moved by Christmas but I just can't see it happening now.   - -We all come into this world with so many possibilities in our head. We have ideas. There is much to look forward to. Some of us  accomplish them and for some they fall along the wayside?  What happened to yours?  Did it fall along the wayside?  Did you compromise what you wanted?  Were you just not prepared for the cruel world? You couldn't handle it!  You were not prepared for what you were going to discover once you were out on your own!!! 

Did you marry someone who abused you?   Did you marry an alcoholic?   Maybe He/She stayed drunk most of the time and you had to work two positions for your children to eat?  It could be you there today.  Maybe you slipped up and became pregnant in High School and had to get married?  You intended to finish because you had always wanted to be a nurse ...but then your husband walked out one day and never returned.  You thought He loved you!  Just as you thought you had the best friend in the world until you found her cuddled up in bed with your husband. What was going on in your mind the day you received your pink slip at work and discovered they did not need a reason to let you go?   Why had your parents not warned you?    

How were you to know there were employers wanting to have sex with you and if you didn't put out --- you were out!  Let's not stop there, let's say you finally found a position you loved and it provided Mental Health Coverage.  You finally received a referral to see a Psychologist .  This was great!  - -You knew you couldn't go on! You needed help!  Finally, the day arrived for the appointment.. You were ecstatic because you really needed to talk because lately you were remembering incidents
from your childhood, they came and went like flashes through your mind.  Then, as you set in his office, feeling safe and secure, listening as He asked you, when it first started happening to you?  You thought back, yes, I believe I had the first one after my Supervisor let me know I had a choice between ____ him or walking out the door.  I walked out the door and I believe I had the first flash soon after.   

You can see, here I am baring it all, trusting Him, and at last I feel safe. I thought, I will just rework my budget.  Then, I need some medicine for my depression,   I  must  not forget to ask ....  How  was I to know what was going to happen next?   - -  This wonderful, kind man was coming on to me.  He began telling me how his wife treated him?  What next?

 I think it starts like this for a lot of us. -  - Maybe, first it is our Fathers that betray our trust, not neccesarily by molesting us.  They betray us by walking out on our Mothers and leaving them to support us. What does it say to a child be it a boy or girl?  They couldn't think much of us if they left us, therefore, we begin to think we are nothing.  Most of the time when the man walks out and refuses to provide for their own flesh and blood, the woman has to pick up the slack - - usually she works two jobs and because of this factor, she couldn't have much time to spend with you.  Therefore, neglect occurs.  - -  I am not referring to physical neglect as much as I am emotional.  She provides a roof over your head, food and clothes, the basics and maybe some occasional money to spend, not likely though.  

--Is she there for you when you are sick ? Does she really listen to you?  Children need to know they are loved not only in the deeds we do but they need to hear us say, "I Love You."  Some children grow up without ever hearing   it.  Their problems may seem minor to you but are they ?   No, they are major to them. You, as a parent need to be there.  Why???

"First Seven Years of Your Life" determine Your Fate...

Can you remember what was happening the first seven years of your child's life?

Think back.  Did you get married young?  Did you have the baby alone without a
Father?  Was your pregnancy an accident?  Did you marry the Father because you were pregnant?  What was happening between you and your husband?  Did he resent having to get married?  Maybe you did, too.  Did you get married young because you were madly in love?  How long did it stay like this?  Did you begin to argue over money for there was never enough?  Did you begin to resent having to work while your friends were out having fun?  Then the baby was born, and how did you two deal with it?  Did He walk out on you?  Did you two constantly fuss?
Did both of you have to work and what about the baby?  Did you leave the baby at a Daycare Center or with your family?

They are born into a world they know absolutely nothing about.  You are their first contact. - - - Their brain is a blank hard drive waiting to be filled with information.  They learn what they live.  You really would be amazed if you took enough time to study what I am sharing with you - - - how vitally important the first seven years are to your baby's wellbeing.  It  alone is the determining factor that molds the blue-print of your child's life.  How many of us even knew about the first seven years?  I can say I honestly didn't know until after they had passed.  I am sure over three-fourths of you, if not more,didn't know. You know now if you are reading what I have written.  We are only responsible for what we know.

 Now, it is time if you have any teenagers to share it with them. I would go and buy a book that really explains how important a child's first seven years are - - - to their development.   I don't mean just the girls but the boys, too.  You need to take the time to explain it to your son as you explain what it means to be a Father. I think it should come from the Mother. - - - I set my down and explained to my son that He should not have sex with a girl, He would not marry,  because she may  become  pregnant even if protection is used, and I explained there were girls in the world that purposely would trick a guy into marrying her by lying  and saying she was using protection when she wasn't.   

I think a child can be neglected with both parents there.   - I believe one parent is capable of rasing a child as well as two, -- but then it depends on the maturity of the  parent.  I  do believe they need  both parents!.   I think it is important for the Mother to breast feed if it is at all possible.  - - It makes the baby healthier for one reason but it bonds them together in a way not possible with a bottle.  Believe me, the day you bring them Home, they can sense when you hold them whether you want them, they know if you are irritated because they are crying and you want to be else where .  -They can sense whether you love them and how secure you are within yourself.   -  -The security you carry within yourself will become part of them and they will begin to feel secure and trust begins to grow.   

It starts there when you bring them from the Hospital.  You are laying a foundation for the child when you feed him, rock him, talk to him  - -and even when you are holding him. He senses the security within you and He begins to learn each time when he cries you change his diaper, give him a bottle  - - and rock him back to sleep. Trust begins to form and you are laying your child's foundation just as an architect step by step builds his masterpiece.  I know all of you can't be there full time for your children, the first seven years, but when you are there try and give them the very best of you instead of all the left-overs.

Children learn what they live!  They grow up neglected and lacking self -esteem, they will find it either in sex, alcohol or drugs.  Be assured everyone needs to be loved and if you are too busy for them, then they are many older men waiting to tell them what they want to hear.  They need you there to be their role model for they run into a variety of situations today we never had to deal with at their ages. 

They need a "Safe Haven" to return to where they know they are loved.  - - They need to know you will be there for them.   - - They need us for even though they attempt to act like they are adults, they are not ready to fly on their own.  - - They must be taught how to cope. 

How do you teach children to cope?  -  - What is it we do as parents that give our children low self-esteem?  Are we constantly critical of everything they do?  Are we there enough to praise them?  Do we substitute money for the time we should be spending  with them?  I know these days  our children live in a world different than we grew up in.  We have taken God out of almost  everything and then we are not there for them.   What should we expect from them?  

I suspect they deal with the emotional pain the best they can. I know I have talked to many who told me they take medications to mask the pain they feel inside !!!  Surely, they must feel an emptiness and they try to fill it with a variety of activities. They try to drown it out with loud music, dance and ecstasy but then it bounces back in the morning.    

I wanted to take the time to cry out to you who are parents.  -- -Your children need you,  they need your love and caring more than the money and all the riches it can buy.They are faced with much more stress and temptation than we were ever faced with.  Most of you shelter your children.  Please don't trade money for time, make time for them.  Let them hear you say ,"I love you." Please, if they get into trouble be there to support them and let them know mistakes are part of life and they may make many more before they learn,  - -but you will be there for them but let them handle it. Teach them how to cope!!!   - - Fill their life with love for it is the most  powerful force in the world.  - - Prepare them for reality, so when they run into a problem, - - they will be able to deal with it without running for their little helpers, drugs.. and if you fill  them up to overflowing with love - they won't need them to fill the emptiness inside.    

Thank You for listening.  Please respond with any feedback.    Let's talk about our children and them medicating theirselves with medications. 

Deborah Shrira  RPH,CMA                                      September 23, 2006

Hello, Everyone!!!  - - -   If it is your first visit I really want to extend a very special welcome to you.  Our main location is in Atlanta, Georgia and we are here to help you in any we can.Our main goal is to educate you with the truth about addiction, and then tell you of the services provided for you, if you should desire to change your life.  We all know about the Abstinent-Free Rehabilitation, but, -  what if it doesn't work for you?  You do know you have other options?  - - We are here to share with you the truth about the pharmacotherapy available along with helping you find what is the best for you.  They have two drugs available, methadone which is been available for over forty years, - but has certainly proved to be the most effective means for many years, and Suboxone®, a new one that has only been been approved by Food  and Drug Administration since 2002. 

In Memory of  Vincent P. Dole, M.D. "Father Of Methadone" died August 2, 2006. He gave a lot of us a second chance at life. I want to thank-you  personally Dr. Dole for methadone because  you saved me from  ending my life.

He was ninty-three years old and gave patients the ability to lead normal lives while still maintaining their physical addiction.  We all thank you !!! 

I know I am ready for an end to the "HOT" weather.  I am sure some of you feel the same way.  I do have some more news I would like to share with you. I  will start off with an article published about the medication and you will have to read it to know where I am heading with it.  If you are presently taking methadone, you need to read it .  

'Smart Pills' Are on The Rise. But Is Taking Them Wise?

Studying with diligent friends is fine, says Heidi Lessing, a University of Delaware sophomore.

But after a couple of hours, it's time for a break, a little gossip: "I want to talk about somebody walking by in the library."

One of those friends, however, is working too hard for dish -- way too hard.

Instead of joining in the gossip, "She says, 'Be quiet,' " Lessing says, astonishment still registering in her voice.

Her friend's attention is laserlike, totally focused on her texts, even after an evening of study. "We were so bored," Lessing says. But the friend was still "really into it. It's annoying."

The reason for the difference: Her pal is fueled with "smart pills" that increase her concentration, focus, wakefulness and short-term memory.

As university students all over the country emerge from final exam hell this month, the number of healthy people using bootleg pharmaceuticals of this sort seems to be soaring.

Such brand-name prescription drugs "were around in high school, but they really exploded in my third and fourth years" of college, says Katie Garrett, a 2005 University of Virginia graduate.

The bootleg use even in her high school years was erupting, according to a study published in February in an international biomedical and psychosocial journal, Drug and Alcohol Dependence. Mining 2002 data, it noted that even then, more than 7 million Americans used bootleg prescription stimulants, and 1.6 million of those users were of student age. By the time students reach college nowadays, they're already apt to know about these drugs, obtained with or without a prescription.

Comparable accounts are common on other campuses, according to dozens of interviews with university students in Virginia, the District, Maryland and Delaware, as well as reports in student newspapers serving campuses in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Michigan, Indiana and Missouri.

"I'm a varsity athlete in crew," says Katharine Malone, a George Washington University junior. "So we're pretty careful about what we put in our bodies. So among my personal friends, I'd say the use is only like 50 or 60 percent."

Seen by some ambitious students as the winner's edge -- the difference between a 3.8 average and a 4.0, maybe their ticket to Harvard Law -- these "brain steroids" can be purchased on many campuses for as little as $3 to $5 per pill, though they are often obtained free from friends with legitimate prescriptions, students report.

These drugs represent only the first primitive, halting generation of cognitive enhancers. Memory drugs will soon make it to market if human clinical trials continue successfully.

There are lots of the first-generation drugs around. Total sales have increased by more than 300 percent in only four years, topping $3.6 billion last year, according to IMS Health, a pharmaceutical information company.  They include Adderall, which was originally aimed at people with attention-deficit disorder, and Provigil, which was aimed at narcoleptics, who fall asleep uncontrollably.  In the healthy, this class of drugs variously aids concentration, alertness, focus, short-term memory and wakefulness -- useful qualities in students working on complex term papers and pulling all-nighters before exams. Adderall sales are up 3,135.6 percent over the same period.  Provigil is up 359.7 percent.

In May, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America issued its annual attitude-tracking study on drug use. It is a survey of more than 7,300 seventh- through 12th-graders, designed to be representative of the larger U.S. population and with an accuracy of plus or minus 1.5 percent, according to Thomas A. Hedrick Jr., a founding director of the organization. It reported that among kids of middle school and high school age, 2.25 million are using stimulants such as Ritalin without a prescrip-tion.

That's about one in 10 of the 22 million students in those grades, as calculated by the U.S. Department of Education. Half the time, the study reported, the students were using these drugs not so much to get high as "to help me with my problems" or "to help me with specific tasks." That motivation was growing rapidly, Hedrick says.

Why should we be surprised? This generation is the one we have pushed to get into the best high schools and colleges, to have the best grades and résumés. Computer nerds are culture heroes, SAT scores are measures of our worth and the Ivy League is Valhalla. Hermione Granger in "Harry Potter" is a heroine despite being such a goody two-shoes that she doubles up her course load with a spell that allows her to be in two places at once. This is the kind of focused overachievement that is addressed by smart pills.

A student Web site for a consortium of tony Philadelphia prep schools makes the point with one of those jokes that's not really a joke: You know you are part of this elite educational set if:

· "You applied to Penn as a backup school."

· "You tend to think anything below a 1400 is a mediocre SAT score."

· "You could get adderall in less than 5 minutes at practically any time of the school day."

Smart-pill use has not been the focus of much data collection. This comes as no surprise to researchers such as Richard Restak, a Washington neurologist and president of the American Neuropsychiatric Association, who has written extensively about smart drugs in his 2003 book, "The New Brain: How the Modern Age Is Rewiring Your Mind," as well as his forthcoming "The Naked Brain: How the Neurosociety Is Changing How We Live, Work and Love."

Contributing to this dearth, he points out, is that these drugs are not famous for being abused recreationally and they are not being used by people with a disease.

This is not "the type of data collected by the FDA," he says. Law-enforcement activity has been sparse. "Who is the complainant?"

Compared with the kind of drug users who get police attention, "This is an entirely different population of people -- from the unmotivated to the super-motivated," Restak says. These "drug users may be at the top of the class, instead of the ones hanging around the corners."

Smart-pill use generally doesn't show up in campus health center reports, he says, because "This is not the kind of stuff that you would overdose on" easily. Amphetamines are associated with addiction and bodily damage, but in use by ambitious students, "if you go a little over you get wired up but it wears off in a couple of hours. And Provigil has a pretty good safety record." Finally, smart-pill use is a relatively recent development that has not yet achieved widespread attention, much less study, although Restak expects that to change.

"We're going to see it not only in schools, but in businesses, especially where mental endurance matters." Restak can easily imagine a boss saying, " 'You've been here 14 hours; could you do another six?' It's a very competitive world out there, and this gives people an edge."

That's why even small surveys conducted by students themselves are suggestive. For a senior project this semester, Christopher Salantrie conducted a random survey of 150 University of Delaware students at the university's Morris Library and Trabant Student Center.

"With rising competition for admissions and classes becoming harder and harder by the day, a hypothesis was made that at least half of students at the university have at one point used/experienced such 'smart drugs,' " Salantrie writes in his report. He found his hunch easy to confirm.

"What was a surprise, though, was the alarming rate of senior business wild majors   who have used" the drugs, he writes.   - -   Almost 90 percent reported at least occasional use of "smart pills" at crunch times such as final exams, including Adderall, Ritalin, Strattera and others. Of those, three-quarters did not have a legitimate prescription, obtaining the pills from friends. "We were shocked," Salantrie writes. He says that in his report, he was "attempting to bring to light the secondary market for Adderall" specifically because "most of the university is not aware" of its extent, he says.

When you start asking questions about smart pills, the answers you get divide sharply into two groups.

When you ask the grown-ups -- deans, crisis counselors, health counselors -- they tell you they don't know too much about the subject, but they don't think it is much of a problem at their institutions.

"I'm not sure of the size and scope," says Jonathan Kandell, a psychologist and assistant director at the University of Maryland Counseling Center. "I have heard about it. But I don't get a sense it's a major thing that they come to the center about."

When you ask the students, they look at you like you're from the planet Zircon. They ask why you weren't on this story three years ago. Even if some of these drugs are amphetamines, it's medicine parents give to 8-year-olds, they say. It's brand-name stuff, in precise dosages. How bad can it be? Sure, there are problems with weight loss, sleep loss, jitters and throwing up, they say. But other unintend-ed consequences are not what you might expect.  Universities now sport some of the cleanest apartments in the history of undergraduate education.   - - - Says one student who asked for anonymity because she has been an off-prescription user of these drugs: "You've done all your work, but you're still focused. So you start with the bathroom, and then move on to the kitchen . . . ."Warning: Side Effects

In the name of altering mood, energy and thinking patterns, we have been marinating our brains in chemicals for a very long time.

Caffeine is as old as coffee in Arabia, tea in China, and chocolate in the New World. Alcohol, coca leaves, tobacco and peyote go way back.

Even psychopharmaceuticals have been around for generations. Amphetamines -- which are the active ingredient in Adderall and Ritalin -- were first synthesized in Germany in 1887. Students have been using them for generations, in the form of Benzedrine and Dexedrine.

Beta blockers have been the dirty little secret of classical musicians since the 1970s. Originally prescribed to treat high blood pressure, they became the "steroids of the symphony" when it became clear Inderal controlled stage fright. As long ago as 1987, a study of the 51 largest orchestras in the United States found one in four musicians using them to improve their live performances, with 70 percent of those getting their pills illicitly.

What's new is the range, scope, quantity and quality of substances, old and new, aimed at boosting our brains -- as well as the increase in what's in the pipeline. Current psychopharmaceuticals represent only the beginning of cognitive enhancers aimed at improving attention, reasoning, planning and even social skills.

The memory compounds being raced to market by four U.S. companies are initially aimed at the severely impaired, such as early-stage Alzheimer's patients. But researchers expect the market for memory drugs to rapidly extend into the aging population we think of as normal, such as the more than 70 million baby boomers who are tired of forgetting what they meant to buy at the shopping mall and then realizing they've forgotten where they parked their cars, too. Or students who think such drugs could gain them hundreds of points on their SATs.

In research now underway, one such substance, ampakines, boosts the activity of glutamate, a key neurotransmitter that makes it easier to learn and encode memory. How useful they might be in a French or law exam.

But there are side effects with every drug. Strattera -- the ADHD medicine that is not a stimulant and may be taken for weeks before it shows an effect -- comes with a warning that it can result in fatal liver failure. The FDA warns it also may increase thoughts of suicide in young people. For a while last year, Canada pulled a form of Adderall from its markets as a result of sudden unexplained deaths in children with cardiac abnormalities. Provigil can decrease the effectiveness of birth control. All of these drugs come with a raft of side-effect warnings.

Nonetheless, pharmaceutical companies are racing to bring to market new drugs aimed at fundamentally altering our attitudes toward having a healthy brain. The idea is less to treat a specific disease than it is to, in the words of the old Army recruiting commercial, "Be all that you can be."Of Mice and Men

Is this what smart has come to in the early 21st century?   Is Ken Jennings, the "Jeopardy" phenom, our model of smart?    Do SATs and grade-point averages measure all of what it means to be intelligent? If so, these drugs have a potent future. But definitions of intelligence may change -- already, some colleges have stopped requiring SAT scores from applicants.

Howard Gardner of Harvard is the godfather of the idea that smart is more than what IQ tests test. In his seminal 1983 book, "Frames of Mind:    The Theory of Multiple Intelligences," and later works, he laid out a then-novel model of cognition that included many other kinds of sagacity.

"I feel that what we call 'intelligence' is almost always 'scholastic skill' -- what it takes to do well on a certain kind of short-answer instrument in a certain kind of Western school," he writes in an e-mail.   "Other uses of intellect -- musical competence, facility in the use of one's hands, understanding of other people, sensitivity to distinctions in the natural world, alertness to one's own and others' emotional states etc. -- are not included in our definitions of  intelligence, though I think that they should be. Unless performances in these other domains were directly tapped, we'd have no idea of whether 'performance enhancing pills' affect these other forms of intelligence as well."Eric R. Kandel is shocked by the idea that powerful elixirs like the ones he is developing might rapidly trickle down to ambitious college kids.   He shared  the  2000  Nobel  Prize  in  medicine  for  his research on the physiological basis of memory storage in neurons. He also founded Memory Pharmaceuticals.

"That's awful!  Why should they be taking drugs? They should just study! I think this is absurd. What's so terrible about having a 3.9? The idea that character and functioning and intelligence is to be judged by a small difference on an exam -- that's absurd. This is just like Barry Bonds and steroids. Exactly what you want to discourage. These kids are very sensitive. Their brains are still developing. Who knows what might happen. I went to Harvard. I like Harvard. It ain't worth it."

The mind amplifiers he's working on, he insists, could have major effects on lots of needy people -- those with mental retardation or Down syndrome, or those with memory loss from depression or Alzheimer's or cancer chemotherapy or schizophrenia. "There are lots of populations out there that really, really need help," he says.

Kandel is hugely enthusiastic about taking a memory that has slipped and bringing it back up to reasonable. His compounds are terrific in aging mice, he says.

But ambitious college kids?

Why take the risk?

In normal mice, he says, his stuff improves memory -- only by 20 percent to 50 percent.

Reference:  Washington  Post Staff Writer
                  Joel Garreau   11 June 2006  

I can assure you that even a light dose of 200mg caused my methadone to be meta -bolized very quickly.  This is, of course subjective, as I didn't  do bloodlevels with and without.  I loved the feeling of modafinil and would try to use it to stay awake and feel euphoric, which doses of 1000mg to 1500mg do.

But I had taken supplemental methadone every few hours just to avoid withdrawal
sickness, which with methadone-done doesn't come on heavy for 48 hours or long
-er.  A single large Provigil® dose causes the sickness to come with a startlingly
fast speed.

Erowid Experience Vault            ID:  34028 

Provigil® =modafinil

Opiates/Methadone  - - -   Decreases duration of methadone effects.
Reference:  Wang 2003

I decided to post about Provigil® (modafinil) on The Director's View because we  had several patient's Drug Screens come back with no methadone or hardly any showing.  These people were penalized before we discovered what was the cause. We had one patient dropped who had been coming on a monthly basis to coming every day. - - Now, personally, I don't agree with the decision they made, for their counselors should have been aware of the interaction, at least investigated before dropping her to an every day status since she had been there since 2001 and never once had a bad Drug Screen.  They, really in my eyes, showed indifference, lack of compassion and basically was accusing the patient of lying.  - I just wanted to make sure it did not happen to any of you.  I try to keep you updated, I failed but we did find the culprit .   

Until next month, take care of yourself and know you have friends here, twenty-fours a day.  We will call you if you send us a message with your name,number and the best time to call you, at our own expense.  Live each day as if it was your last.  Remember, you are not alone, we are all here for you because we care.

Your Director, Deborah Shrira                          14 August 2006

I want to welcome all of you to "The Director's View."   Has it been hot enough for all of you?  It has been for me.  I am ready for some cold weather.  It seems as time passes  too quickly for me.  There is just not enough hours in the day for me to get everything done. It has been so busy lately most of you I am sure has recognized I have fallen behind on the news.  I do apologize,honestly we could use some more  bodies around here. 

Speaking of new bodies,I would like to take the time to recognize one very special person who started working with us about three weeks ago. She has defintely been an angel sent from heaven. She took over Cricket's position in Patients Forum, but
she is assisting in "Ask The Doctor?" She has been revitalizing both areas with the life bubbling out of her.  We needed some remodeling after two years and believe
me, God had to have sent her our way.  - - I am sure a lot of you know her already for she was a member before she took the position. Her name is Wendy Harrell but most of us know her by "Sky."  I want to extend a special "Thank You" to her for taking over when I needed someone badly and she made herself ready and avail -able whenever and wherever she was needed.  - -  We thank you,  Wendy Harrell!!!

I am going to take a few minutes, just in case, we have some new visitors to "The
Director's View" to explain exactly what transpires here.  I always take the time to introduce myself when I start a new page.  My name is Deborah Shrira and  I am The Director of "Medical Assisted Treatment of America."  If you missed our news from "The Director's View" we have kept it for you .  If you just look up at the top  of the page, you will see a bar directly under "Medical Assisted Treatment," and
you will see dates. 

Click on the one you would like to see and check it out for every month of the year.  You will find some great information and news and  the best time to actually look at it is when you need cheering up. Seriously, some of it will make you laugh and some will make you cry. Now, if you read it and you feel absolutely nothing, I would highly recommend you make an appointment to see a Psychiatrist as soon as possible.  ( I am not joking.) 

We discuss some of it all on "The Director's View."  - You check it out for yourself for my lips are sealed, but please feel free to send me any feedback on any subject we discuss.  Check our archives and you will know I share news, information,ideas feelings, and controversial issues, but it is as much for you, as it is for me.  - If you would like to share  - do so!  Step out of the comfort zone and share your feelings and and views with us.  Let the old insecurities go..  

PHOENIX)-------- In a recent survey, researchers found half of all American teenagers have used prescription drugs and/or cough syrup  to get high. It's a growing epidemic but how do we convince them the consequences of popping pills can be deadly. Now, one mother speaks out about how her son's addiction to a drug. Methadone cost him his life.

Adam Hall is one of 200 teens who
died last year from a drug overdose.

Adam was one of those kids that was fun-loving, Stacy Hall says of her son Adam Hee played little league and was just a fun, fun boy." These are the memories of a loving mom whose all-American son overdosed on prescription drugs."

Stacy says, "He picked up a prescription for Methadone." Then she found Adam dead in his bedroom. His best friend suffered the same fate at the same time. "His mother found him the next morning." It's a danger Stacy didn't see coming, but 200 teens died last year from over-dosing on prescription drugs."

We asked kids who don't do drugs what the driving force behind their choice is. They said it was the way they were raised, and that they were taught to make their own decisions.

Leslie Bloom, from the Partnership for a  Drug -  Free America, says the key to keeping your child off drugs is starting early. At age 5 explain how prescription drugs help and hurt people. Because 9-year-olds are fascinated by facts, show them how drugs effect a brain and body. She says, "If you're not communicating often with your child when they're young, and parenting, it's very difficult to begin that communication process later on."

By age 12,some kids will start to experiment with drugs. Social image is important to point out how drugs hurt their body and brain.  - - Older teens have already had to make some tough decisions.  - - - Now they need to be warned about permanent consequences -- including how it can ruin any college or sports dream.

"Your children will listen. Talk early. Talk often and they're up to half as likely to even try drugs if they hear from you about the dangers," Leslie says. She urges parents to closely watch what their kids are doing and who they're doing it with. See for yourself. Don't take your child's word for it.

Stacy believes her trust in her son cost him his life.  - - There are times when I get mad at Adam, - but there are times when I feel very, very guilty, very sad that as a parent I didn't do enough to keep him safe." Experts believe it's important to keep your kids busy from 3 PM to 5 PM. Get them involved in groups and sports. If you do leave your children alone during the day, be sure they feel your presence, give them chores to accomplish and be sure to call them several times.

Reference:  Ivanhoe Newswire

Talk to your children- share with them about methadone. Educate them and let them know you care about them/ but you can not make their decisions for them; Don't become their Prison-Guard - Trust them-Be their Parents!!!

If there are parents reading about Adam, I am asking you, - please start early with your children.  - - I feel very strongly about a parent's obligation to their offspring. You owe them more than food, clothing and a roof over their head - you owe them your love.  How many children grow up today neglected?  They need you to show them by your actions you love them,but they need to hear the words too. You  are
responsible - start educating them about life.  They are never too young.  Maybe you never had a problem with addiction - therefore you haven't any knowledge as to what you need to say to them. I can say this to you, don't make the mistake of telling them, "Just say no to drugs."  It hasn't worked for many years and yet look at all the money wasted on the advertising campaign by our own U.S.Government.

Children are smarter than you think.  You need to make a trip to the library, if you can not afford to buy books.  You go and do your homework.  Find out what they are using today. Know what the drugs look like and what their actions are.  If not how would you ever be able to detect if they were using?  You need to know the side-effects of the drugs and know too, what drugs should not be taken with them. 
How can you talk to your children about them if you know nothing at all?  I have given you a tough assignment above.  It will take some time because a lot of what they are using today are legal prescription medications but they can be bought off the street.

 If you take any pain medication, anti-anxiety drugs, or sedatives for sleep -- and especially if you take methadone for addiction. Please keep them with you at all times - never leave them in the medicine cabinet, nor setting out in the open . I think you should be aware: Even if you have a lock-box for your methadone, and you leave it locked and keep the key with you, If they want to find it bad enough -they can and believe me, they will find a way to open the box.   -- - I have seen it happen too many times - take precaution with any medication as dangerous as methadone.  There is no reason to leave temptation out - take it with you...

We are here too if you have any questions you would like answers too.  If you feel as if you need to talk with someone about your child,then feel free at any time, day or night to give us a call.  Yes, we have people ready and waiting to talk with you.  If you can't afford to call us, just drop us a message and leave your name, number and the best time to call you and we will call you at the time you requested, at our own expense. I am really very tired of seeing our teenagers die from medications.

We need to start educating them about the drugs they are taking, I think it should
be done as early as possible by their parents at Home, then carried over into their
schooling,instead of wasting money on drug-screens.  - - I think it would be very insulting to me as a teenager.  You can not force your child to stop using drugs .
It will not work no more than drug prohibition has worked.  - - Use the money to educate your children and let them make their own decisions.   

Reference:  Deborah Shrira, RPH, CMA       Qualifications:   Pharmacist, CMA
                   Mother of a Drug-Free Son ( Alcohol and Nicotine Free )

Leslie Bloom
Partnership for a Drug-Free America
Arizona Chapter, c/o Honeywell
21111 North 19th Avenue
Phoenix, AZ 85021
(602) 436-5569
http://www.drugfree.org

North Carolina-based Project Prevention, which offers a cash incentive of $300 to drug addicts and/or alcoholics to receive long-term or permanent birth control, will bring its 30- foot motor home to Sacramento and San Francisco over the weekend.  The group will arrive in Sacramento around noon on July 8, 2006, for the third stop in a 16 city nationwide RV tour. 

Prior to hitting the streets of Sacramento, Project Prevention Founder and Director Barbara Harris will be meeting with more than 30 Sacramento residents at the Sheraton Hotel to coordinate citywide outreach efforts. These residents will be placed into teams of two or three and assigned a sector of the Sacramento area to distribute fliers and information.

In San Francisco, the groups fourth stop, - - - Mrs. Harris will personally drive the motor home throughout the city accompanied by San Francisco residents and her four adopted children born to one Los Angeles drug addict. Scheduled to arrive in San Francisco around noon, the motor home will travel throughout the city to increase awareness and reach potential clients.   In addition, information will be distributed and fliers posted by volunteers.

The exterior of Project Prevention's 30-foot motor home is wrapped in advertising that promotes the program with stark, heart-wrenching photographs and statistics illustrating the life-long medical consequences faced by children born to addicts. The back of the motor home provides vivid insight into the realities of children born substance exposed by stating, "She has her daddy's eyes, and her mommy's addiction," with the image of a crying baby as the backdrop.

Project Prevention is a national, 501(c)3 not-for-profit that offers cash incentives to women addicted to drugs and/ or alcohol to use long-term or permanent birth control. The organization has paid clients in 39 states and the District of Columbia. Project Prevention's mission is to reduce the number of substance exposed births to zero -- because every baby deserves a sober start!

http://www.projectprevention.org          

Any feedback on the above issue,   negative or positive, we want to  hear how you feel about women   being paid $300 if they are  an   addict/or alcoholic to receive  long-term or permanent birth   birth control ? Feedback, please ?

Spokane - - - An alarming trend in the pattern of drug use in Spokane County is contributing to an increase in accidental deaths.

 - - - At Holy Family Hospital Spokane County Medical Examiner Dr. Sally Aiken performs well over 600 autopsies a year in Spokane and surrounding counties, and she says she's noticed a disturbing trend in recent years involving prescrip-tion drugs.

One drug she’s concerned about is methadone, a prescription pain-killer that is killing dozens of people who are using it for the wrong reasons.  - - -  "When it is obtained illegally or diverted from some legal use it has consequences which, in our community, are often fatal," she said.

Such was the case earlier this year when 17-year-old Ferris High School student Tim Zigler died after a friend gave him methadone for a headache.

- - The Medical Examiner says the results are often tragic when people use the methadone illegally. - - In 2005 alone she recorded 52 accidental deaths where methadone was in the person's system. - - Dr. Aiken calls it part of an alarming drug use trend in Spokane County where people are ignoring the fact the drug requires careful monitoring.

“There's a misconception that because methadone is a prescription medication that somehow that makes it a safe medication, but that in fact is not true," she said.

That’s why the pain killer is becoming as much of a concern as heroin, cocaine and even methamphetamine. Dr. Aiken says that methadone is just as lethal as those illicit drugs, and more dangerous than methamphetamine, which is why she hopes that getting the word out about the dangers of this prescription drug will help raise public awareness.

Reference:  Dave Meany/News4 Reporter      Date:  21 July 2006

Thank all of you for joining with me. I know a lot you went of town on the 4th of July and I hope the vacation restored you.  My views
today was serious.  - - It is not the first time, I have brought the news to you of deaths occurring by the
of hand of methadone.  Think on these issues and share with me.
Two heads are better than one.
   

 Compiled by:  Deborah Shrira RPH, CMA             Date:  July 21, 2006