Last week, an FDA advisory panel recommended that the popular prescription painkillers Vicodin and Percocet, which combine acetaminophen with an opiate narcotic, be banned.
The move by the FDA panel comes not in response to allegations of abuse but rather from concerns that the drugs which contain acetaminophen may cause liver damage.

Gordy Weinand, Director of Community relations at Narconon of Georgia stated:

Vicodin is made as a mixture of hydrocodone and acetaminophen. The acetaminophen acts as an pain relieve and fever reducer.  Hydrocodone is a synthetic mixture of the opiate codeine and the opiate alkaloid thebaine. Codeine acts as a cough suppressant and pain reliever, while thebaine is added for its stimulatory effects.

Percocet is potent compound painkiller used to treat moderately severe to severe acute (short-term) pain. The main ingredient of Percocet is oxycodone, a potent opiate; in addition, the drug contains acetaminophen.

There is, of course, a reason why people become addicted to drugs. The psychological aspect of addiction is extremely powerful. The human mind is a marvellous thing, and the thoughts we have can become all-ruling in our lives.

Because we are these complex creatures, with thinking and reasoning capabilities, we can often discount the mind as only a small part of what we are. This is totally wrong, and in fact the psychiatric implications of drug use (or more properly drug abuse) are ever present, and can cause major disruption in the life of an addict.

So just what exactly are we talking about here? The psychological aspects of the mind, and how it can control our lives, has been well known to professionals in the field for many years. For example, if one is the child of an addict, be it drugs, alcohol, or whatever, your own mind will rapidly justify to you the use of these substances as being OK. Let’s face it, you love your parents and if they are doing it then it’s got to be allright and can’t possibly be bad for you. You are in effect brainwashing yourself.

Drug use is an epidemic; then again the term epidemic might be misleading considering that mind altering substances have been around since the dawn of mankind. As a Professional Counselor, who has spent a significant portion of his career working with teens that have developed a dependency for drugs and alcohol; I have learned five primary things about the families who have been fortunate in being able to steer their adolescent children from drugs. So here are five actions you can begin taking today, (even if your child is not yet a teen) to ensure, your teen doesn’t develop a habitual pattern of drug and alcohol abuse.