Press Room

Members of the media may contact Rod Colvin through his publisher, Addicus Books, at 402-330-7493 or at: info@addicusbooks.com.

The Press Kit can be downloaded below in PDF format or found in its entirety on this page.

Press Kit
	Prescription Drug Addiction Press Kit - PDF, 124K

Prescription Drug Addiction
The Hidden Epidemic

Chances are you know someone who is addicted to prescription drugs. Many pharmaceutical abusers are ordinary people—your elderly mother, your dentist, or the PTA president—who may have had no prior history of drug abuse and became hooked unwittingly.

Millions of Americans from every demographic group are caught up in the staggering epidemic of prescription drug misuse and abuse. And even though this problem may be hidden, it shreds the emotional fabric of families across the nation and costs millions of dollars in health care, traffic accidents, joblessness, and absenteeism.

Rod Colvin is author of Prescription Drug Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic (Addicus Books, October 2001). He has dedicated himself to educating others about this underreported national drug problem ever since his own brother, at the age of thirty-five, died as a result of long-term addiction to prescription drugs.

In this clearly written, thoroughly researched guide, Colvin provides a comprehensive resource for addicts, their families and friends, and health-care professionals wanting to better understand and cope with a problem that has been too long ignored. Readers will learn:

• How people become addicted, and why it is so hard to stop.
• How addicts and abusers obtain prescription drugs, and what is being done about it.
• Where to go for help, what does treatment involve?
• Why pain management is problematic for patients and physicians alike
• How to recognize addiction or drug misuse.
• Why teenagers, seniors, and women are especially susceptible to pharmaceutical abuse and misuse.

Rod Colvin has gathered testimonials from addicts in recovery and addiction specialists who offer insight, advice, and real hope and solutions to those suffering in silence. This book makes a crucial contribution to bringing this national health crisis into public awareness.

Rod Colvin, author of Prescription Drug Addiction: The Hidden Epidemic, lost his brother and only sibling, at the age of thirty-five, to complications caused by long-term prescription drug abuse. A defining moment in Colvin’s life, that event was the motivating force behind his decision to write this comprehensive resource full of valuable information, advice, and inspiration for prescription drug addicts and those who care for them.

Colvin has spoken to civic and professional groups across the nation. He has appeared on the NBC Nightly News, MSNBC, has appeared on numerous other radio and television programs, and has been interviewed for articles in Redbook Magazine and Family Circle Magazine, and newspapers across the country.

From 2003 to 2005, Colvin served on an advisory commission to the National Center for Addiction and Substance Abuse, Columbia University, New York, which completed a landmark study on prescription drug addiction. www.casacolumbia.org

Colvin is also the founder and publisher of Addicus Books, based in Omaha, NE, an independent press that has published consumer-oriented books on health, self-help, how-to, and business since 1994. He has written two previous nonfiction books, Evil Harvest (Bantam Books, 1992), the true story of a white supremacist murder in America’s heartland, and First Heroes (Irvington Publishers, 1987), an investigation into the fate of POWs possibly left behind in Vietnam. A former broadcast journalist and a producer of documentaries, Colvin is at ease on both sides of the microphone and camera.

Suggested Interview Questions

1. Your own brother died as a result of long-time prescription drug addiction. Did his death come as a total surprise, or was his disease something you and your family had dealt with openly for some time?
   
2. How do people become addicted to prescription drugs, and why is it so hard for them to quit?
   
3. Why has prescription drug abuse been so underreported and misunderstood in this country?
   
4. If you suspect that someone you know is abusing prescription drugs, what are some of the signs to look for?
   
5. Who is most at risk for prescription drug abuse or misuse? Where does drug use end and drug abuse begin?
   
6. What kinds of drugs are people abusing, and how are they obtaining them?
   
7. Are seniors more susceptible to prescription drug addiction and misuse than the general population?
   
8. Painkillers such as morphine and OxyContin can be extremely addictive, so how are doctors supposed to help patients who are in moderate or extreme pain?
   
9. Are people getting hooked on popular anti-depressant or mood-enhancing prescription drugs such as Prozac?
   
10. Is prescription drug abuse a prevalent problem in our schools—among teenagers and younger kids?
    
11. What is the best way to talk to someone who is abusing prescription drugs?
    
12. What are the best treatment options for someone who needs help, and how successful are they?
    
13. What are law enforcement agencies doing about the prescription drug epidemic, and are they having much success?
    
14. When you began researching and writing about this subject, what was the most surprising or unexpected fact you uncovered?

Segment/Feature Topics

Expert sounds the alarm for this staggering medical crisis. Prescription drug misuse and abuse in America has reached crisis proportions, according to expert Rod Colvin. Despite the fact that fourteen of the top twenty most abused mood-altering substances are prescription drugs, we tend not to think of these drugs when we think of addiction. Colvin reveals alarming statistics about this escalating crisis, and discusses:

• How the death of his own brother caused by long-term prescription drug abuse alerted him to this misunderstood and largely underreported national drug problem.
• How people become addicted to prescription drugs, and who is responsible. Why women and seniors are at greatest risk.
• How addicts obtain prescription drugs illegally through physicians, pharmacists, and street peddlers.
• How to recognize the signs of addiction in yourself or someone else—and what to do about it.
• What do you do if a loved on is addicted to prescription drugs?
• What is the solution to this serious national drug problem?

THE PAIN CONTROVERSY

Learn why patients may be suffering needlessly, and discover the truth behind painkiller addiction.

As many as half of the 13 million Americans who have surgery annually receive inadequate pain management. As many as 80 percent of cancer patients do not receive adequate medication for pain. Are physicians allowing their patients to suffer needlessly? Expert ROD COLVIN discusses:

• Why doctors’ fear of addiction is resulting in widespread undermedication for pain
• Why medical students are receiving inadequate pain-management training
• How drugs such as OxyContin may have received a bad rap
• How legal monitoring of controlled substances contributes to doctors’ fear of prescribing them.

IS GRANDMA AN ADDICT?

Find out how to recognize prescription drug abuse and misuse in seniors and learn what to do about it.

Seventeen percent of those sixty and older are affected by prescription drug abuse,

and 11 percent of women over the age of the age of fifty-nine are addicted to psychoactive prescription drugs. Chances are good, says expert Rod Colvin, that your elderly parents are misusing prescription drugs, intentionally or not. Colvin explains:

• How to recognize the signs of addiction in seniors, and the most effective way to talk to them about it.
• Why health-care providers routinely misprescribe or incorrectly administer drugs to seniors.
• Why seniors are more likely to become unwittingly addicted than any other segment of the population
• How the “shame factor” keeps many seniors from admitting they have a problem.

THE DRUG DEALER IN WHITE

Learn how physicians and pharmacists contribute, often unknowingly, to prescription drug abuse.

It’s estimated that between 80 and 90 percent of all pharmaceutical drug diversions occur in doctors’ offices, at pharmacy counters, and in hospitals, according to author and expert Rod Colvin. Learn:

• Why addicts and dealers often regard health professionals as “easy marks”
• What methods are used by pushers and addicts to obtain controlled substances from legitimate sources
• How profit and production quotas may contribute to drug diversion in some large-chain pharmacies
• How some states are finding successful ways to put a clamp on the prescription drug abuse.

WARNING, SENIORS: THESE DRUGS MAY BE DANGEROUS TO YOUR HEALTH

Find out which drugs to avoid if you are over sixty-five.

According to Rod Colvin, seniors metabolize drugs differently than younger individuals. Decreased liver and kidney function cause drugs to stay in seniors’ bodies longer. This puts them at a heightened risk for overdose, adverse drug reactions, severe side effects, and even misdiagnoses. He discusses:

• How a large percentage of hip fractures are caused by adverse effects from tranquilizers and painkillers.
• Why delirium in the elderly may be related more to the side effects of prescription drugs than to any other factor.
• Which drugs seniors should absolutely avoid.
• How to evaluate the safety of drugs a senior is taking.

Myth The abuse of prescription drugs comprises only a small part of the nation’s drug problem.

Truth Fourteen of the twenty most abused mood-altering substances in this country are prescription drugs.

Myth There is no such thing as becoming an addict innocently.

Truth Many people become “unwitting” addicts. These are often individuals with no prior history of drug abuse, who first started using a prescribed drug for a legitimate medical problem. Then at some point they started increasing the dosages on their own because the drug made them feel better. Gradually the abuse became full-blown addiction.

Myth Physiological dependence is the same as addiction.

Truth One can become physically dependent on a drug, say a pain medication, over time. If the drug were stopped, the body would experience withdrawal symptoms. However, this type of dependence is not addiction. A patient with physiological dependence can quit the drug, usually by being tapered off it gradually with medical supervision and without admission into a drug treatment program.

Myth You can quite drugs cold turkey if you really want to.

Truth Most addicts require professional help to quit. The side effects from withdrawal from certain prescribed medications can be dangerous, leading to coma and even death.

Myth Once you have been treated for an addiction to a narcotic, you can safely take other addictive medications.

Truth Unfortunately, relapse often occurs when recovering drug addicts believe they are immune to other substances. Once addicted to a mood-altering substance, addicts have the brain chemistry that predisposes them to dependency. This puts them at risk for relapse from something as innocent as an over-the-counter cold medication or a glass of wine.

Myth The use of opioids such as OxyContin for chronic pain inevitably leads to addiction.

Truth Studies show that the incidence of addiction is low among patients who are treated for legitimate pain.

For more information or to contact Rod Colvin:

Addicus Books (402) 330-7493

Email: info@addicusbooks.com