Tampa/St. Petersburg/Clearwater Drug Abuse Statistics

Tampa, the county seat for Hillsborough County, Florida, is part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The four county area has approximately 2.7 million residents, which makes it the fourth largest in southeastern United States. Tampa was ranked as the fifth best outdoor city by Forbes, and a newspaper survey ranked it as the top city on nearly 20 counts.

Like some other regions of Florida, Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA has a number of people addicted to various types of substance abuse, including prescription drug abuse. In fact, a number of deaths due to prescription drug abuse were reported in the year 2009. The commonly abused prescription drugs are Oxycodone, OxyContin, Hydrocodone, Xanax, and Methadone. These are narcotic drugs synthesized from opium-derived thebaine.

Drug abuse has become so widespread that it has attracted the attention of law enforcement. Recently, nearly 70 pill poppers were rounded up, and more than 55,000 illegally obtained pills were recovered from them. The authorities believe that this is just the tip of the iceberg and that a concerted action needs to be taken to combat this problem.

It is also true that most of the prescription drug abuse initially starts from addiction to the painkillers prescribed for dealing with serious pain. Many school or college students might get injured while playing. But they are greatly motivated not to miss the tournament, which forces them to consume strong painkillers.

The mechanism of action of oxycodone is different from that of morphine. Although it acts on different opioid receptors than morphine, it is still potent. Oxycodone is absorbed very quickly, and peak plasma levels are reached within an hour. Oxycontin, on the other hand, takes about three hours to reach the same plasma levels but starts reducing pain within an hour. Once it is dissolved in the body, it is distributed by the blood to the skeletal muscle, intestinal tract, liver, spleen, lungs, and brain.

Instances of recreational use of Oxycontin begun in the late 1990s in the United States, and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA and its adjacent regions are no exception. There are almost 500 substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors in Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater MSA and more than 600 mental health and social workers to help the people addicted to recreational or prescription drugs recover from their drug addiction.

Counselors and centers for treatment of prescription drug abuse look for certain common symptoms to diagnose the problem. Most of the addicted people suffer from craving for the drug, loss of appetite, insomnia, energy boost after a dose, and reduced sensation of pain. Those who suffer from emergency symptoms are rushed to hospitals to deal with the situation immediately. But for a permanent solution, one must seek counsel from a rehabilitation center and follow it holistically.

It is necessary to understand that drug addiction, regardless of the substance used for experiencing a high is both a physical and psychological problem. A Florida rehab center advises physical exercise as well as psychological therapies to bring addicts back to mainstream society.