Opiate pill dependence doesn’t always look like “spaciness.” Here’s what you should be looking for instead.
Time was when a person taking opiates—whether it was heroin, morphine, or synthetic pain pills—typically had a “spaced out” look that you could easily pick out of a crowd. You know the look: lost in a dream state, stumbling, stoned, drunk-looking, unaware of other people coming or going, possibly even passed out or nodding.
But now, among the new generation of teens and adults using prescription opiate pain pills as a gateway drug, we’re not seeing that obvious spaced-out look as often. Some are wondering why—and what they should look for instead.
A (very short) history lesson is in order: 20 years ago, the American medical establishment was extremely anti-pain medication. They were—rightfully—cautious about dependence, and worried about how the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) might look twice at doctors prescribing even a moderate amount of those medicines. You might say America was opio-phobic.
Now though, the exact opposite is true. With a lower tolerance among the general public for street and counterculture drugs, a wider acceptance of all prescription drugs (including morphine based or synthetic pain pills), and a looser political and regulatory environment for drug companies, a perfect storm has brewed.
These potent, addicting prescription pills are now much more readily available than they used to be. And with the advent of the Internet, an enormous loophole has developed to facilitate their sale. You don’t even need a prescription—just a credit card.
The bottom line is that the individuals taking these pain pills are past the “spaced-out” phase. They’ve developed a tolerance, so they don’t seem obviously doped-up when they take these pills. What they do experience is a “technicolor” or “bigger than life” quality to everything in life, a quality that goes away when they stop taking the pills—rendering everything “flat” or “colorless.” But that’s nothing anyone else can see.
By the way, this “colorless” reaction to quitting is why it’s so hard for pill users to stop, even when they make it through withdrawal. Without the pills to perk everything up, life just doesn’t seem worth it.
If you’re a user: realize that if you can’t go for nore then a few hours without your drug of choice, or if life seems “gray” or “dull” unless it’s in your system, you may have developed a dependence you hadn’t planned on.
If you’re a concerned friend or parent: don’t simply look for a spaced-out state that may not necessarily be there. Some more reliable signs may be hyper-secrecy, over-chattiness, erratic behavior, restlessness, and others you can find on our website. If you’re concerned call us, we’ll tell you everything we know. Like the internet, information has no cost. Taking no action however does.
