A doctor in Fort Lauderdale recently had a patient’s family file a wrongful death suit against him when their loved one committed suicide after allegedly developing drug addiction while being treated by the doctor.

Dr. Michael Lazzopina advertises himself as a medical professional who treats both chronic pain and drug addiction, but the lawsuit filed against the doctor claims that he turned Benjamin Eiseman into an addict by prescribing him painkillers and anti-anxiety medication for about two and a half years. The Coral Springs, Florida, resident was an electrician and 30 years old when he died of a painkiller overdose using pills prescribed by Lazzopina.

The Accusation: The Creation of Drug Addiction That Led to Drug Overdose

How does Eiseman’s family claim that Dr. Lazzopina turned their loved one into a drug addict? By handing him an oxycodone prescription before ordering an MRI to confirm that he had an injury and then, later, for neglecting to lower the amount of his prescription when his back injury improved. Additionally, Eiseman’s family says that Lazzopina never provided Eiseman with a referral to a drug addiction specialist.

Dr. Lazzopina is 85 years old and a urology specialist, though he is board certified in pain management. Pain management and drug detox have been the focus of his practice of late, if recent newspaper ads offering drug addiction treatment and pain management treatment are any indication. Lazzopina is also certified by the federal government to prescribe certain medications to treat addiction.

The lawsuit filed against Lazzopina goes on to describe him as a part time employee at the Fort Lauderdale Pain Relief Center where he allegedly sees as many as 44 patients in a single day.

The Defense: Drug Addiction or Domestic Problems?

Lazzopina’s lawyer maintains that the doctor did nothing wrong and neither did the clinic. He puts the weight of blame for Eiseman’s drug addiction and suicide fully on Eiseman claiming that the electrician was “doctor shopping” to procure multiple prescriptions from multiple doctors in order to supplement his addiction. He also says that Eiseman was using illegal substances as well when he died.

Lazzopina’s lawyer further points out that Eiseman’s suicide came just days after his wife kicked him out of their home. The lawyer suggests that his suicide was more indicative of his emotional state over his domestic situation than his issues with drug addiction.

Who is Responsible for the Results of Drug Addiction?

This question is one that has been asked often in the courts over the past few years, but it’s not one that has uniformly been answered the same way. In some cases, teenagers and young adults who give their medication or any substance of addiction to a peer who ultimately ends up dying as a result of overdose or an accident have been given serious jail time for their choice. On the other hand, doctors who prescribe medications that ultimately result in the development of drug addiction for their patient and, in cases such as this, death due to overdose, aren’t always treated as harshly by the courts.

Who is responsible for drug overdose? The person who takes the pills and/or drugs or the person who gave them to him or her in the first place? What do you think?

For parents who have children who are struggling with drug addiction, it doesn’t matter what age they are: it’s difficult. Emotionally exhausting and hard on the whole family, a child’s drug addiction can affect everything from family dinner to family finances. So what can you do to help your child when he or she is struggling with drug addiction?

Don’t Enable Their Drug Addiction

First things first: you may not have the power to “fix” your child or save them from themselves but you do have the power to make an agreement with yourself not to make it worse. Enabling behavior manifests in a number of ways. It could be as obvious as handing the drug addict in your life money or  allowing them to stay with your rent free without getting a job or having any responsibility for themselves. It could occur when you cover for them with their employers, teachers, friends or other family members by lying about their behavior. Enabling also occurs when you continually do their work for them, handle their responsibilities or in any way protect them from the consequences of their own actions. When you stop doing these things and start allowing their drug addiction to affect them, you are helping them get one step closer to dealing with the fact that they need drug rehab.

Drug Addiction Intervention

A more proactive way to handle the situation when your child refuses to acknowledge his or her drug addiction is to stage a drug addiction intervention. At an intervention, you have the opportunity to gather together the people who mean the most to your child and allow each one to tell him or her about a specific incident in which your child’s drug addiction was hurtful or dangerous. The intervention culminates in an offer: go to drug rehab and get the necessary medical help or….

The “or” is a big part of the intervention, especially when it is your child struggling with drug addiction. Depending upon your situation and the age of your child, different ultimatums will be appropriate. It may be telling them to move out or taking away financial support if he or she is an adult or, for those who are underage, it may mean moving to a different city or changing schools.

Letting Go When Drug Addiction Treatment is Refused

If your child is struggling with drug addiction, you never have to stop loving him or her. However, it helps no one, least of all your child, if you continue to enable the behavior and make it possible for them to continue using drugs and/ or alcohol without real consequences. Letting go will look different for each family according the specifics of their situation and the addiction issues of their child. Only you know what’s best for you, but it can’t be repeated enough: letting go of your child when they refuse to get help for drug addiction doesn’t mean that you don’t love them.

Drug Addiction and the Family

If you would like to learn more about drug addiction treatment for your child, Michael’s House can help. We offer drug rehab services for those 18 and older. Call today to learn more.

Staging a drug addiction intervention can be a scary process, especially if you have been living with a loved one’s addiction for years. Emotionally exhausted and out of ideas, most people only choose a drug addiction intervention as a last resort. A final line of defense, a drug rehab intervention is a final plea to a loved one living with drug and alcohol addiction: get help through drug treatment now.

Here are a few steps for planning and staging a drug addiction intervention for the drug addict or alcoholic in your life.

Drug Addiction Intervention Step 1: Decide Who to Include

Once you’ve made the decision to move forward and stage a drug addiction intervention, the first step is to decide who to include in the event. Make sure to choose people who are close to and well respected by your loved one. Don’t include anyone struggling with addiction issues of their own, as this will only muddy the waters. This shouldn’t descend into a blame game so it is best if those who are included in the intervention are people who do not have a history of extended arguments or problems with the addict beyond the usual issues that arise as a result of drug and/ or alcohol addiction.

Tip: Be prepared to amend your list of invitees if someone declines the invitation or if scheduling precludes one or more cannot come.

Drug Addiction Intervention Step 2: Choose a Time and Place

Next, you should collaborate with those you are going to include in the drug addiction intervention and decide upon a time and place that will work for everyone. Keep in mind that you should choose a place that is natural for the addict who is the focus of the intervention. That is to say, if you are staging an intervention for someone you work with, it makes sense that you would ask them to stay late after work one day and have the intervention at work. If it is a family member who is the focus of the intervention, then you will likely choose to do the intervention at home, choosing a time that makes sense in their schedule when they are usually at home.

Tip: Remember that you will have to wait for your loved one to sober up or “come down” if they are drunk or high when you want to talk to them. They will need to be clear headed in order to understand what you are saying and be able to make the right decision.

Drug Addiction Intervention Step 3: Meet Ahead of Time

When you have chosen who will be included in the drug addiction intervention, have everyone except for the addict come to a preliminary meeting. Here, you can go over the basics of what an intervention is, what the goals are, what is expected of those who come to the intervention, who should speak and in what order as well as how long each person has to say what they have to say. If anyone has any questions or concerns, this is the time to work out the details.

Tip: Try to meet a couple of days ahead of time so that everyone has time to prepare for the intervention.

Stay tuned for the next three steps to staging a drug addiction intervention.

Well, the experts got together-expert psychiatrists-and they decided that the prime suspect in the case of ‘what causes us drug and/ or alcohol addiction’ is genes and genetic predisposition. At the annual meeting of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, they discussed why it is that one person can take an addictive drug  or have a few drinks and walk away unscathed and unchanged, while others do the same thing and end up addicts and alcoholics who need drug and alcohol rehab to get better.

According to the Royal College of Psychiatrists, it turns out that the answer lies deep in the brain and is determined by our genes.

Dopamine and Drug Addiction

Wim van den Brink is a professor at the Academic Medical Centre at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands and an expert in the field of addiction. According to Medical News Today, he says: “Addicts have fewer dopamine or pleasure receptors in the brain and consequently seek out more and more stimulation.”

Says Professor van den Brink: “Addicts find it difficult to receive pleasure. They are not likely to enjoy most of the ordinary things most of us enjoy, experiences such as a day at the beach or a night at a club. They are looking for more and more stimulus.”

What is an Addictive Personality?

Of course, the term means that you’re more likely to become addicted to a pleasurable activity or substance than the average Joe. But according to Professor van den Brink, “The emotional memory of the ‘wonderful experience and the drive to repeat it leads to craving and relapse.” It also means that you’re less likely to fully appreciate the fact that the short-term pleasure provided by prescription painkillers and other opiates means long-term physical, emotional and spiritual damage, at least not enough to be able to use willpower alone to maintain a drug-free life.

Are Genetics The Only Cause of Drug Addiction?

No. Genes and brain chemistry alone do not turn a person into a drug addict. Environmental influences also play a part. No matter what your inclination may be, you can’t become an addict if you don’t first use drugs or alcohol, and you can’t use drugs and alcohol unless they’re around you. Environment then, the influence of those around you, sheer opportunity and availability of different drugs will also play a part in whether or not you experiment with different drugs as well as determine whether or not you have the option to use regularly.

With continued use, addiction causes a decrease in dopamine receptors, which means an increase in addiction. “In this way, addicts become even more interested in drugs and drug-using friends,” says Professor van den Brink.

Drug Addiction Treatment

For those who have a genetic predisposition, it is more important that you avoid experimentation. However, once drug addiction develops, earlier treatment is far more effective than later treatment. It may even be helpful for you to include your family in your drug addiction treatment program to help you avoid relapse when you return home.

If you would like to learn more about our drug addiction treatment and family therapy programs, contact Michael’s House today.

Even those who rail the United States for being too soft on drug addiction and those convicted of distribution and sales of illegal drugs are pausing to think after the recent death by firing squad in China of Akmal Shaikh, a drug dealer caught with 4kg of heroin. Was the death penalty too extreme of a punishment for a nonviolent crime? Should he have been given drug rehab instead or a prison term?

The wide spectrum of views on drug addiction, drug abuse and drug dealing range from the very liberal view that everything should be made legal to the very conservative view that, if not the death penalty, then the first conviction should at least come with a harsh and swift penalty.

China’s Argument for the Death Penalty for Drug Distribution

China feels strongly about protecting its people from the harms and dangers of drug addiction. They point out that the amount of heroin that Shaikh was trafficking into China could have killed 27,000 people. Choosing the death penalty, however, says that there is no hope of rehabilitation and since the death penalty in the United States is usually reserved for a similarly violent crime, most Americans are somewhat taken aback by this hard line approach. China views the potential loss of 27,000 countrymen as more valuable than the life of one man and they make no apologies for their decision.

The Softer Approach to Drug Addiction

In the United States, many states have a program that offers drug rehabilitation for first time possession offenders, and often drug dealers get away with inclusion into this program if they are carrying small enough amounts that can be claimed is for nothing more than personal use. Many Americans view this as soft, saying that it sends the message that drug addiction and distribution isn’t that serious and that even if you get caught, you’ll have a few more chances before you get into any “real” trouble, a message that ultimately costs taxpayers millions in court costs, law enforcement, medical care, damage to property, loss of lives and more.

In Britain, drug addiction can get you a disability check for the equivalent of about $200 a week. Here and abroad, there are needle exchange programs and other harm reduction-oriented nonprofit organizations dedicated to assisting those who are living with drug addiction though not necessarily trying to help them break free from addiction. There is also quite a bit of anecdotal evidence in the form of rehabilitated addicts who say that these programs were invaluable in terms of helping them to recover and start a new life.

What Do You Think?

Whatever your view on the death of Shaikh, what is your opinion of the harder line against drug addiction and drug sales versus a more rehabilitative approach? Do you think that drug rehab works? Can it save lives and ultimately save money? Or is it better to send the message to anyone who considers abusing drugs and alcohol that there is a no tolerance policy?

Ever wished there was something more you could do for your loved one caught in the angry drama of drug addiction? Anonymous tips to the DEA are a good place to start.

Since 2004, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has been operating an international, toll-free hotline for reporting illegal sale, distribution, and abuse of prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, and Vicodin. Whether it is neighborhood drug sales or an online site that is distributing drugs illegally, you can help break the cycle of addiction by making tips to the DEA.

The Importance of a Hotline for Reporting Prescription Drug Activity

“With one simple call… people in the United States and Mexico have an anonymous, safe, and free way to bring information about suspected illegal pharmaceutical distribution to DEA,” explains Administrator Karen P. Tandy. “This information will greatly assist us in bringing drug dealers to justice and preventing the tragedies that come from prescription drug abuse.”

Whether it happens unknowingly as a result of a doctor’s prescribed narcotic, or from intentional use as a way to “self-medicate” without doctor’s orders, effects of addiction are the same and can lead to the same end no matter where or how it first started out.

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health determined 6.3 million Americans in 2003 were obtaining and using addictive medications specifically for the purpose of getting high. Today, pharmaceutical medications comprise the bulk of addictions for youth and adults alike - more than marijuana, cocaine, or crystal meth combined.

“DEA is particularly interested in hearing from families whose loved one has overdosed or died as a result of obtaining pharmaceuticals over the Internet. Tips including the Web addresses will help us put these pill pushers out of business,” Tandy says.

The Risks of Continued Prescription Drug Addiction

The health effects of prescription drug addiction are severe and extensive. Depending upon the drug of addiction, you may experience respiratory problems, liver and kidney damage, seizures, hallucinations, insomnia, acting without awareness, heart problems and more. Drug overdose is always a risk, no matter how long you have been taking your drug of choice, and dangerous or negligent actions under the influence that hurt you or those around you are always an issue as well when you use drugs that alter your perception and slow your response time.

How to Help Get Prescription Drug Abuse under Control by Sharing What You Know

To make an anonymous report, you can visit the DEA’s website www.dea.gov or call 1-877-RxAbuse. It’s a free call from anywhere in Mexico or the United States and it helps those in the know get the necessary information to those who can effectively do something about it.

Would You Use a Drug Addiction Hotline?

Would you feel safe using an anonymous hotline like this one to tip off law enforcement to the illegal activities you’ve discovered your loved one is involved with? Do you think it would help your situation?

Drug rehab is the only medically efficient way to treat drug and alcohol addiction, whether you are dealing with heroin addiction, cocaine addiction, alcoholism, or addiction to multiple drugs and alcohol. However, you can play a big part in determining just how effective your stay at drug rehab will be. With the right direction and a few good tips, you can use the days before you enter drug rehab to set yourself up for a successful treatment program. Take a look at the drug rehab success tips below:

Drug Rehab Success Tip #1: Don’t Overdose

It seems intuitive, right? Unfortunately, though, many people binge on their drug of choice when they realize that they are headed into treatment. Their thought is: “If I’m never going to do this again, I’m going to go out with a bang.”

Too often, “going out” is exactly what happens as a result of that overindulgence. Drug overdose is pretty common right before people head into treatment and the only way to avoid that is to avoid binging on any drug or alcohol.

Drug Rehab Success Tip #2: Don’t Stop Using Your Drug of Choice Suddenly

For much the same reasons, it isn’t recommended that you suddenly stop using your drug of choice before entering drug rehab. If you are entering a program that requires you to be free from withdrawal symptoms, you will need to go through a detox program before entering treatment. If you are entering a program that provides drug detox as a part of their drug rehab services, then wait until you arrive. The medical complications that may arise could be deadly and there’s no need to start early and take that risk without medical supervision.

Drug Rehab Success Tip #3: Pack According to the Rules

When you are accepted into a drug rehab program, you should be given some guidelines about what to pack and what not to pack. Follow this to the letter. It will save you a great deal of heartache and/ or anger when you arrive and the attendant goes through your belongings to make sure that you aren’t trying to sneak anything illegal into the program.

Drug Rehab Success Tip #4: Bring Something Personal

No matter how strict the drug rehab program, you are allowed to bring certain personal items. Don’t leave those behind! It will be these pictures, letters, books, et cetera that sustain you when the program gets a little bit more difficult.

Drug Rehab Success Tip #5: Rest and Relax

Though your focus during drug rehab will be on healing yourself and recovering, this can be exhausting work both emotionally and physically. It will serve you well to take good care of yourself before you head into treatment-get lots of sleep, eat right and drink lots of water-so that you are as physically prepared as possible to get the most out of your drug rehab program.

More Drug Rehab Tips

Would you like to learn more about how to make drug rehab work for you? Call us at Michael’s House today and get the answers to your questions.

Do you have a few tips of your own that you’d like to add? Leave us a comment.

Artie Lange is famous for being the comedic sidekick to the notorious Howard Stern on “The Howard Stern Show” on Sirius XM radio. Unfortunately, Lange was hospitalized this weekend. The reason for his hospitalization was undisclosed to the public, but rumors abound: most believe that Lange’s long struggle with drugs and alcohol either resulted in overdose or that he suffered an accident or illness that is drug or alcohol related.

Howard Stern Comments on Artie Lange, Addiction, and the Future of the Show

Despite rumors that Lange’s hospitalization and the issues that led up to it are serious enough to warrant his replacement on “The Howard Stern Show,” Stern himself disagrees, according to Gather.com. When asked about the rumors that Lange may be replaced by Jim Breur, Stern said that there was no truth to the story.

Stern made a public comment recently stating: “We all have our demons. Artie has given this show tremendous moments of great comedy. He’s a tremendous contributor. He is a good man. Don’t forget how great he is.”

Robin Quivers, a co-host on “The Howard Stern Show,” had nothing but good things to say about Lange as well: “[He] is the most loving guy, always giving.”

The Secret of Drug Addiction

None of Lange’s friends or family is commenting on the reason for his hospitalization, not even the usual “exhaustion” malady that so often seems to plague celebrities dealing with drug abuse issues. While Stern alluded to the well-known issues he has had, he is supporting Lange and Lange’s family by allowing them to keep their personal battle private.

While that is admirable, the issue of secretive drug addiction can often tear families apart. Too often, when a friend or family member is suffering from the disease, those who are close to them will cover up the issue, hiding their mistakes or “cleaning it up” for others. Some do it because they are embarrassed for themselves or for the addict in their lives. Others do it because they believe that, if given enough time do so privately, the addict in their life will be more likely to stop drinking and using drugs on their own. Still others are just in denial and don’t want to believe that the problem is as serious as it is. Whatever the reason, keeping secrets and hiding a family member’s struggle with something as deadly as drug and alcohol addiction isn’t doing anyone any favors.

Help Your Loved One Heal: Drug Rehab Intervention

A drug rehab intervention is a great way for you to take a proactive stand and help your loved one get the help they need to recover from drug and alcohol addiction. By confronting the addict in your life with concrete examples of how their addiction and actions under the influence have hurt them and those who love them, you can reveal to them an incontrovertible way just how serious their addiction problems are. By offering them the opportunity to immediately leave for drug rehab, you are also offering them a solution.

If you would like a professional interventionist to assist you in setting up an intervention for your loved one, contact us at Michael’s House today for more information.

Making resolutions is a big part of new year’s. A new year, a fresh start and a chance to mend or bypass the mistakes of the last year with new goals and hopes for the future. For those struggling with drug and alcohol addiction, drug rehab plays a big part in those plans and resolutions for the new year. Should drug and alcohol rehab be the next step for you or your loved one in the new year?

Drug Rehab: Is it Necessary?

In most cases, if you are seriously contemplating drug and alcohol rehab, there is a need for it. A medical treatment, it is necessary in cases where you have a psychological and physical dependence upon a particular drug or drugs. If you have tried to quit using your drug of choice and have not had any success maintaining abstinence for any length of time, drug rehab is necessary. If you have health problems and your doctor has told you that you need to stop using your drug of choice and yet you cannot, then drug rehab is necessary. If you know that your opportunities, your future and your reputation are being impaired by drugs and alcohol and you want to stop but can’t do it alone, then drug rehab is necessary.

Drug Rehab: How To Help a Loved One

If your concerns are not for yourself and your use of drugs and alcohol but the abuse of addictive substances by a family member or someone you love, then the same “tests” listed above apply. If you are having a hard time telling whether or not your loved one is having issues with drug abuse or drug addiction, apply the parameters listed above to their circumstances. If they are often under the influence or choose where or what they’ll do based on their ability to remain under the influence, if they lie about their drug use or deny the problem, if they have tried to get clean and sober or promised to stop using without success multiple times, then it is likely that drug rehab is a good new year’s plan for them, too.

The difference in this situation is that you may need to perform an intervention in order to help them understand that drug rehab is necessary. If you would like help staging an intervention for someone you care about, a professional interventionist can help.

Drug Rehab: Is Now the Time?

If you or someone you love is living the life of an active addict, then now is the time for drug rehab. Like any medical treatment for other chronic diseases, the sooner you get treatment and the more comprehensive that treatment is, the more likely you will be to succeed. If you would like to learn more about the drug and alcohol detox and addiction treatment programs at Michael’s House, contact us today for more information.

Elton John recently made a few comments about Eminem, Eminem’s struggle with prescription painkiller addiction and the part he played in helping the rapper get through a difficult recovery.

About Eminem’s drug addiction, Elton John says: “I’ve been helping Eminem over the last 18 months and he’s doing brilliantly.”

Eminem’s History with Prescription Painkiller

A popular topic in his music before he retired a few years ago, Eminem made no secret of his abuse of a variety of drugs including prescription painkillers. When he decided to retire a few years ago, it was clear that it was his issue with drug addiction that was keeping him off the stage. He made a few comments to the press and didn’t try to hide his stint in rehab.

Eminem said in one interview: “If I was to give you a number of Vicodin I would actually take in a day? Anywhere between 10 to 20. Valium, Ambien, the numbers got so high I don’t even know what I was taking. I started looking around my house to see if I had a stash box of Vicodin. I’m ransacking my house, finally find something in the basement, in a little napkin, seven and a half Vicodin - the big extra-strength ones - and a few Valium. It never once hit me that drug addiction runs in my family. Now that I understand that I’m an addict, I definitely have compassion for my mother. I get it.”

Elton John and Celebrity Drug Addiction

According to the Daily Mail, Elton John is proud of Eminem’s progress and believes that he himself played a large part in helping the rapper go from active addict to recovering addict over the last couple of years. But this isn’t Elton John’s first rodeo. He has staged a number of interventions in the past and helped more than a few other celebrities with their battle with drug addiction. According to the interview, he attempted to help Michael Jackson before the pop star eventually succumbed to the disease last year, and he also tried to encourage George Michael to enter drug and alcohol rehab (although Michael apparently was none too pleased with John for his efforts).

Said Elton John to Danny Baker at Radio 5: “I’m there if people want my help. If people ask for help you tell them where to go but there’s no point advising people if they don’t want to do it.”

Does Someone You Love Need Drug Rehab?

If you are watching a friend or family member struggle with drug and/ or alcohol addiction, an intervention may be the appropriate next step. If you are sure that this is addiction and a problem that is taking its toll on your loved one’s health, relationships, finances and future, then confronting them in a loving manner while surrounded by other loved ones is definitely the right next step. If you would like more advice on how to perform an intervention, a professional interventionist may be able to assist you. Contact Michael’s House today for more information.