Stoned drivers targeted in new $1 million Colorado ad campaign

For an indication of the efforts that are being made to target marijuana abuse across the age groups, clients of addiction counselors in Miami need only look to Colorado, where $1 million television commercials have been unveiled under the tagline "Drive High, Get a DUI". The adverts mark the first time since marijuana's legalization in Colorado in 2012 that the state has reminded residents of the dangers of using pot before driving.

The resultant campaign will no doubt strike a chord with many of those parents concerned about possible marijuana abuse by sons or daughters who may be learning to drive or already qualified to take independent control of a vehicle. The commercials show a series of marijuana users spacing out during day-to-day tasks, including a middle-aged man who prematurely celebrates hanging a flat-screen TV before seeing it crash to the floor, as well as a basketball player in the playground leaving his teammates frustrated by continuously dribbling at the foul line.

Such adverts from the Colorado Department of Transportation - in another instance featuring a backyard griller thwarted in his attempts to turn on his gas grill due to the absence of the propane tank - are hilarious to watch. However, the campaign's serious aims will be well-understood by any parent who has ever had to sought the services of addiction counselors in Miami. According to Avon police chief and chairman of Colorado's Interagency Task Force on Drunk Driving, Bob Ticer, "Enforcement is very important when it comes to impaired driving, but education is equally important."

What may greater alarm the parents calling upon the assistance of addiction counselors in Miami are the difficulties that Colorado has encountered in attempting to keep track of the number of marijuana-impaired drivers in the state. Only in January - when marijuana began to be sold by retail - did records began to be kept by Colorado State Patrol. Out of a total of 61 drivers to show evidence of alcohol or drug impairment, 31 were logged as having been stoned. The problems in maintaining accurate statewide tallies of marijuana-impaired drivers arose from such cases having previously charged under the same law as drunk-driving.

However, signs of the adverse consequences of marijuana legalization were aplenty in the only other state to have taken that step so far, Washington. There, there was an almost 25 per cent rise in the number of drivers testing positive for pot in 2013 compared to the previous year, taking the total annual figure past the 1,300 mark. Levels were sufficiently high in 720 of those to result in an automatic drugged driving conviction. It's yet more food for thought for those who may have previously presumed that the hardest work of addiction counselors in Miami was done.

Editor’s Note: Family Recovery Specialists (http://www.familyrecoveryspecialists.com) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.

The isolation and treatment of protracted withdrawal symptoms

Although adolescents and young adults who have problems with drug and alcohol use receive considerable assistance to break free from its damaging effects from Family Recovery Specialists' well-qualified addiction counselors in Miami, the recovery process can nonetheless be a difficult one. One recurrent condition for many recovering addicts in the detox phase is protracted withdrawal syndrome, or PAWS, with its symptoms that test their resolve to avoid a relapse.

While post-acute withdrawal syndrome or PAWS and its symptoms are more than familiar to addiction counselors in Miami, there is less awareness of the condition among many addicts and the public. It only increases the importance of appropriately educating addicts about the lingering effects of substance abuse as part of their relapse prevention efforts.

PAWS is defined as various post-acute symptoms of recovery from dependence on barbiturates, benzodiazepines and ethanol; opiates; and in some cases, antidepressants. Examples of benzodiazepines that can be frequently abused include Xanax, Ativan and Valium, while addiction counselors in Miami also often deal with the abuse of such opiate drugs as OxyContin, Vicodin and heroin.

Common PAWS symptoms include general cognitive impairment, anhedonia (the inability to feel pleasure from anything other than use of the drug), mood swings akin to an affective disorder, an extreme craving for and obsession with drugs, insomnia, anxiety and panic attacks, depression and thoughts of and actual suicide. Such symptoms generally peak around four to eight weeks after quitting, and are testament to the brain's slow healing process.

In the body's progress towards homeostasis, there is a need for it to recalibrate and reach a 'new normal'. However, withdrawal symptoms can be prolonged for some people, making them feel worse rather than better in recovery. Many addicts are able to instantly identify the symptoms of PAWS when informed of it by addiction counselors in Miami, but may not have previously had a name for it.

Indeed, it is the addiction counselors in Miami of an intensive outpatient program like Family Recovery Specialists that addicts are advised to contact as a first step to overcoming what can be fairly serious acute and post-acute withdrawal processes. By receiving suitably tailored detox assistance encompassing specific treatments, those experiencing PAWS symptoms can better tough out the difficult times en route to a sustainable recovery.

Such symptoms can frequently resemble depression, but there is also the need to treat co-morbid depression and anxiety that may exist independently of the drug abuse, if the risk of relapse for the recovering individual is to be minimized. Cognitive behavioral therapies, mediation, yoga and aerobic exercise can all be useful in tackling depression and anxiety, alongside any antidepressants that may be prescribed.

Above all, recovering addicts must be aware that their difficulties that necessitated the services of addiction counselors in Miami will not disappear overnight, but that PAWS symptoms are nonetheless temporary and only increase the need for patience as the body heals, eventually leading to better feelings for the recovering person.  

Editor’s Note: Family Recovery Specialists (http://www.familyrecoveryspecialists.com) are represented by the search engine advertising and digital marketing specialists Jumping Spider Media. Email: info@jumpingspidermedia.co.uk or call: +44 (0)20 3070 1959 / +34 952 783 637.