Step By Step Health and Family Services
(973) 372-5550
660 21st Street South
Irvington NJ 07111

Rehab and Insurance Services

Substance abuse treatment services
Services Provided: Substance abuse treatment, Buprenorphine Services
Type of Care: Outpatient, Partial hospitalization/day treatment
Special Programs/Groups: DUI/DWI offenders

Recreational Abuse of Ambien

Like many prescription drugs, Ambien has become widely used recreationally, even among those who do not suffer from insomnia. Some people use Ambien for its sedative and hypnotic effects. Recreational use of Ambien has risen in recent years due to the widespread availability of the drug and the euphoric effects associated with the drug including its ability to create sensory disturbances such as hallucinations and altered thinking during the drug high. When used recreationally, people take Ambien to induce sleep. Many users combine the drug with other drugs such as stimulants or caffeine in order to stay awake and experience the hypnotic effects of the drug. Recreational users of Ambien have a variety of methods of ingestion that range from taking the pills, to snorting or even injecting the drug. When used illegally, Ambien can lead to a host of dangerous effects, such as sleepwalking, driving while sleeping and dangerous drug interactions. One time someone used Ambien to facilitate episodes of sexual assault by incapacitating victims.

Addiction affects multiple brain circuits, including those involved in reward and motivation, learning and memory and inhibitory control over behavior. Some individuals are more vulnerable than others to becoming addicted, depending on genetic makeup, age of exposure to drugs, other environmental influences and the interplay of all these factors. Passages Scam Addiction is often more than just compulsive drug taking it can also produce far-reaching consequences. For example, drug abuse and addiction increase a person’s risk for a variety of other mental and physical illnesses related to a drug-abusing lifestyle or the toxic effects of the drugs themselves. Passages Scam A wide range of dysfunctional behaviors can result from drug abuse and interfere with normal functioning in the family, the workplace and the broader community. Because drug abuse and addiction have so many dimensions and disrupt so many aspects of an individual’s life, treatment is not simple. Passages Scam Because addiction is a condition, people cannot simply stop using drugs for a few days and be cured. Most patients require long-term or repeated episodes of care to achieve the ultimate goal of sustained abstinence and recovery of their lives. Passages Scam Research and clinical practice demonstrate the value of continuing care in treating addiction, with a variety of approaches having been tested and integrated in residential and community settings. As we look toward the future, we will harness new research results on the influence of genetics and environment on gene function and expression, which are heralding the development of personalized treatment interventions. Passages Scam Even within the addiction recovery field, many people embrace the notion that Ambien addiction is an incurable disease. This oversimplified view simply does not account for the real, complex reasons behind Ambien addiction. Passages Scam

This is the Government on Crack

The war of drugs is now four-decades old. President Nixon started the campaign in 1971. After thousands of deaths, millions of arrests and billions of tax dollars spent, drug prohibition remains solidly intact despite fervent debate contesting the effectiveness of this now forty-year old policy.
A recent report by LEAP, the Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, details how the current administration policies continue to do more harm than good despite the Obama rhetoric to the contrary. LEAP members consist of current and former local, state and federal law enforcement agencies that have battled the war on drugs. According to former Baltimore narcotics officer and LEAP director, Neil Franklin, the United States jails more people than any other country in the world, making nearly two million drug arrests a year.

Drug Czar

The Obama administration and his drug czar, Gil Kerlikowske, the head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, now devote more resources to policing than prevention. The 2004 federal drug budget was split 55 percent for supply reduction, policing and 45 percent for demand reduction, prevention and treatment. The 2012 Obama budget now has a 60 percent increase in policing while reducing prevention and treatment to 40 percent.
Obama rhetoric with regard to medical marijuana has been more talk than walk. During 8 years of the Bush administration there were about 200 federal raids, while under Obama there have already been about 100 raids in just two and a half years, notes LEAP.
The drug war only empowers the structures they purport to combat, reports former DEA agent, Sean Dunagan, who worked in Mexico and Guatemala. The illicit drug trade is big business and the prohibitionist model only turns a multi-billion dollar industry over to the criminal cartels. The huge profit incentive combined with powerfully resilient criminal organizations have shown that prohibition is a failure and alternatives need to be sought to address the problem of addiction as a social problem. While LEAP members acknowledge that ending prohibition will not defeat the drug cartels, it will decrease the power of the cartels.
The report by LEAP is only one of many that support ending prohibition for a four-decade old policy.

Sources: http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2011/jun/15/cops_say_forty_years_war_drugs_e
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/diane-dimond/we-need-a-new-drug-policy_b_881418.html