Peaches Update: Death from Heroin OD

This is a follow up post to an earlier post on the tragic death of Peaches Geldof at age 25 with her young child next to her. I had played celebrity death sleuth but was incorrect in my assessment.

Legacy of addiction gets handed down like family estates and jewelry. Her mother overdosed at age 41 with a child at her side, and our Peaches recreates the scene 14 years later, except she was only 25.

Do we all become our parents? I think not.
Are we helpless to go on repeating the past, whether it is an addiction or a pattern of thinking and behaving?

This is why therapy needs to be part of every recovery process. Addiction isn't just the physical and psychological dependence. There exists a core conflict, our defining wound which originates in childhood. The resulting pain, whether psychological or spiritual or both, is what we attempt to dull with our substance(s) of choice.

Through therapy and/or spiritual reflection, we can become more aware, more in tune with our subconscious, so that we are less likely to act out, or behave unconsciously, and repeat what we know or become the parents whom we feel let us down.

http://www.thefix.com/content/peaches-geldof-reportedly-died-heroin-overdose

Celebrity Drug Death Memorial Wall

This feels cheap to me but it is fascinating and hopefully educational.


via DrugAbuse.com

Enter Zohyrdo

Just heard on the radio this morning that in a few weeks a new painkiller called Zohydro is about to hit the market. A single 50 mg capsule contains 10 times the hydrocodone than a regular Vicodin. An adult with no tolerance could potentially overdose on two capsules and a child on a single capsule. And the capsules are easily crushable.

Zohydro "was first developed in 2002 by Elan, which merged with Alkermes, and Zogenix acquired the U.S. rights in November 2007."* Elan's parent company Perrigo is based out of Dublin. 

Given the recent surge in painkiller-related overdose deaths and increase in heroin abuse and overdose deaths — experts in the field, even doctors specializing in pain management are puzzled if not extremely concerned. I am quoting from Huffingtonpost below (see the link below):

"Concerned about FDA approval of Zohydro? You are in good company. This morning a letter signed by more than 40 organizations was sent to FDA Commissioner Hamburg, urging her to keep Zohydro off the market. The organizations include some of the most prominent addiction-treatment agencies in the country, including Hazelden, Caron, and Phoenix House. Other co-signers include CASA Columbia, the American Society of Addiction Medicine, Blue Cross Blue Shield, the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, and dozens of community-based addiction-prevention organizations."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kolodny-md/zohydro-the-fdaapproved-p_b_4855964.html

BTW, Elan plans to introduce a non-crushable form in three years, which I believe has something to do with limiting generic versions being produced by other manufacturers.

Here is another block quote from Huffingtonpost:

"Second, please make your way to Washington, D.C., for the FED UP! rally on Sept. 28, 2014, where you will be joined by thousands of people who are equally fed up by the FDA's long track record of putting opioid manufacturers' interests ahead of public health."

*Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/watchdogreports/zohydros-maker-not-required-by-fda-to-take-abuse-deterrent-steps-b99129543z1-229528381.html#ixzz2uR0NfR1S 

Hazards of Molly

I recently wrote about the reappearance of MDMA or ecstasy as Molly. Despite it being touted as a casual and safe party drug, its hazardous potential cannot be underestimated. 

Case in point: Over the long Labor Day weekend, two young people died from ingesting Molly at an electronic music festival here in New York City. "Electronic music festival" is what used to be called a rave, just as Molly was called something else. As long as there are revelers, there will be chemicals that alter the mind.

Again, education is the best defense.