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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2011)
Dear Raven: What is Suboxone? Lots of people are taking it so they do not use prescription drugs. Is this effective for people who do not want to use any drugs? How long do people have to take it? Signed, Curious Dear Curious: Suboxone is a drug used to help people manage withdrawal from opiate and opioid addiction. Opiate drugs are any refined extract of the opium poppy, including codeine and morphine. Heroin, hydrocodone (Vicodin) and oxycodone are semi-synthetic opiates. Methadone, propoxyphene, Darvon, Demerol and oxycontin are all synthetic opiates called opioids. Other generic and trade names exist for opiates and opioids. These are the most commonly used. Suboxone is a combination of bu prenorphine and naloxone. Buprenorphine is an opioid that produces less of a high. Naloxone blocks the effects of opiates but when dissolved under the tongue, it will not affect the actions of buprenorphine. Suboxone is used to treat opiate addiction and unlike methadone, it’s not intended to be taken for life as an opiate/opioid replacement. It’s intended to help the addict get off of opiates/ opioids, develop a program of recovery and then taper off. It always must be taken under supervision of a doctor who is licensed to prescribe it. It can cause death from overdose. Suboxone can cause drug dependence, which means that withdrawal symptoms can occur if people stop taking it too quickly. It can cause drowsiness and dan gerously increase the effects of other drugs that cause drowsiness, including alcohol. It’s very expensive to get on Sub oxone and the drug itself is expensive. The average cost of induction is $1,000. Monthly follow-up appointments average $200 and the medication itself costs from $200 to $300. Ask Raven Raven will answer your questions about problems associated with alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. You can call in your questions to the numbers below or mail them to Raven, P.O. Box 320, Siletz, OR 97380. Suboxone can be helpful to people who wish to recover from opiate/opipid addiction only if: • • It’s taken exactly as the prescribing doctor recommends The person actively pursues outpa tient treatment that helps identify triggers for drug use, the development of a community and family support system and a plan to prevent relapse The average length of time people are on Suboxone is one year. Length of time depends on how long the person used opiates/opioids, how much they used per day and how motivated the person is to develop a program of recovery. Unfortunately, like all other drugs that have been approved to help with a medical condition, Suboxone is now being abused and used without a prescription. I hope this helps you. Thanks for writing. Raven Time to enforce underage drinking laws, know the facts about bullying The recently released National Sur vey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) shows that underage drink ing rates have remained relatively steady from 2008-2009. Among persons age 12-20, past month alcohol use rates in 2009 were 16.1 percent among Asians, 20.4 percent among African Americans, 22 percent among American Indians/Alaska Natives, 25.1 percent among Hispanics, 27.5 per cent among those reporting two or more races and 30.4 percent among whites. Rate of current alcohol use among youth age 12-17 was 14.7 percent in 2009, which is similar to the 2008 rate (14.6 percent). Youth binge and heavy drink ing rates in 2009 (8.8 and 2.1 percent) also were similar to rates in 2008 (8.8 and 2.0 percent). Past-month and binge drinking rates among underage persons (age 12-20) declined between 2002 and 2008, but then remained unchanged between 2008 (26.4 and 17.4 percent) and 2009 (27.2 and 18.1 percent). In 2009,55.9 percent of current drink ers age 12 to 20 reported that their last use of alcohol in the past month occurred in someone else’s home and 29.2 percent re ported that it had occurred in their home. About one third (30.3 percent) paid for the alcohol the last time they drank, includ ing 9 percent who purchased the alcohol themselves and 21.3 percent who gave money to someone else to purchase it. Full study results can be found at http://oas.samhsa.gov/nsduhlatest.htm. Quick fact Among underage drinkers who did not pay for the alcohol they last drank, 37.1 percent got it from an unrelated person age 21 or older, 19.9 percent from another person younger than 21 and 20.6 percent from a parent, guardian or other adult family member. Source: SAMHSA Be a buddy, not a bully What is a bully? By definition, a bully is someone who is cruel to weaker individuals. Although numerous bullying methods exist, there are four main types of bully ing: physical, verbal, emotional and cyber. It’s important to remember that no one type of bullying is better or worse than another, as it depends on what is most effective against the victim. Often, a bully employs various methods in combination for maximum impact. Physical bullying is the easiest of the types of bullying to define because it’s among the most common. Injury to the person or his or her belongings is char acteristic of this method. The bully may punch, kick, shove or spit on the victim. Narcotics Anonymous Toll-Free Help Line - 877-233-4287 • Siletz News Myth: “Bullying is just a stage, a normal part of life. I went through it; my kids will too.” Fact: Bullying is not “normal” or socially acceptable behavior. We give bul lies power by accepting this behavior. www.bullying.org Photo by Natasha Kavanaugh Madison Metcalf and Elka Fisher visit with Santa at the Community Christmas Gathering. Mission Statement We will utilize resources to prevent the use of alcohol and other drugs, delinquency and-violence; we will seek to reduce barriers to treatment and support those who choose abstinence. Siletz: 800-600-5599 or 16 Bullying myths and facts Community Efforts Demonstrating the Ability to Rebuild and Restore Prevention, Outpatient Treatment and Women’s Transitional Portland: 503-238-1512 plies, takes place in cyberspace. This means any electronic communication device is a potential instrument of the bully. This type of bullying involves vari ous forms of victim harassment, including posting pictures of the victim on websites against his or her wishes and sending pictures through cell phone texting. The bully also might turn up in chat rooms to talk negatively about the target or interfere with his or her ability to chat. The remaining two types of bullying, verbal and emotional, often are confused as the same thing. While similar in nature, the methods and outcomes are often different. The goal of emotional bullying is to exclude the victim from social interac tions and cause mental pain while leaving the victim in social solitude. Verbal bullying, on the other hand, does not utilize indirect methods like spreading rumors. A verbal bully will say demeaning and offensive things directly to the victim, usually in front of his or her friends. The nature of the harassment often makes verbal bullies more difficult to catch than a physical bully because an authority figure can do little without evidence. Of all the types of bullying, verbal bullying is frequently the most prevalent in schools. www.wisegeek.com CEDARR Siletz tribal A&D Programs Salem: 503-390-9494 Cyber bullying, as the name im For Information on Alcoholics Anonymous: wwwMa-oregon.org January 2M1~~ Jan. 5 • 5:30 p.m. Siletz Community Health Clinic Behavioral Health Conf. Room 200 Gwee-Shut Road, Siletz Topics to be discussed: Prescription drug abuse, bullying and underage drinking
