Local Pill Addicts Face Uphill Battle to Get Clean

As pill users take more and more of their drug of choice, it becomes harder and harder to achieve the same high.

And once they're addicted, it's extremely difficult to get clean.

Bob Hiott, Executive Director of Behavioral Health Services of Pickens County, gave his prespective on the area's prescription drug abuse, as a panelist for the Red Zone Rally, a community discussion about the area's prescription drug abuse problem.

He spoke about the hard battle that addicts face when they try to kick their addictions.

“One of the qualities of these opiate drugs we're talking about is the high tolerance,” Hiott said. “Another quality is that to many people, like me, it makes you feel really good. That's why people want to take them.

“If you take one for pain and it makes you feel good and you decide, 'Well I'm going to take two,' by tomorrow you're going to have to take four to get the same effect that two gave you the other day,” he continued. “The tolerance builds up.”

Hiott said he's seen people in withdrawal from opiate addiction.

“And it's one of the most terrible things I've ever seen,” he said. “If you've seen that, you'll understand why people will do anything it takes to keep use of these drugs and keep them available.”

Hiott said Behavioral Health does see people who “do recover and that are addressing this addiction effectively.”

“One of the things that we do is we offer a drug called suboxone or buprenorphine … and it helps people keep from going into full-blown withdrawal,” Hiott said. “It connects with the opiate receptors and it helps people not use. Many of these people after being on buprenorphine for a short time say, 'I don't want to have to take medication anymore' then the withdrawal from buprenorphrine is much less intense from withdrawal from full opiates.

“It's a very effective treatment, but it also costs a lot of money, when we're talking about medical expense and change in healthcare,” Hiott said. “That's another thing we need to address. We do have a fair number of people who just want to get clean and are willing to go through withdrawal or caught it early enough that they didn't have to experience withdrawal, that can get into a treatment program or a program of recovery, and can continue to stay clean and sober and off of drugs.”

He said those treatment options exist, but that the area needs more of them.

Hiott said there aren't people “beating down the doors” to get into recovery, “because it is so difficult.”

He said of the 15 people currently enrolled in BHSPC's evening outpatient program, “six of those are in treatment for opiate addiction.”

“It is a large part of what we do,” Hiott said.

“These medicines that we prescribe are addictive, there's no question about that,” said Dr. Jim Mahanes, who heads up the Prescription Drug Abuse Alliance. “There are people who are susceptible to those addictions. We can't throw them out with the wash water. We have to have something we can do for them in the future.”