National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by Hank Moreira
English Arabic Chinese (Simplified) Dutch English Filipino French German Italian Portuguese Russian Spanish NCAPDA has the honor of supporting Catherine Martin’s Opioid Awareness Project. Catherine, a fantastic artist from Apex, NC, paints portraits from photos provided to NCAPDA of lost loved ones whose lives were cut short in some way by opioids, either prescription painkillers or illegal opioids such as heroin and fentanyl. If you are interested in having Catherine paint a portrait of your loved one, please send a high-quality photo along with his/her name and age to info@ncapda.org. Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by Hank Moreira
My name is Chris. I’m 23 years old and I currently live in Cody, Wyoming. The reason why I’m posting this is to hopefully raise awareness about the seriousness of prescription drug abuse. Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by April Rovero
We lost our 20-year-old son, Collin, to an accidental heroin overdose in March. The police found the person who sold Collin the heroin and he confessed. I was hopeful that a recently revised law, unanimously passed and signed in July, would be used to charge this person. Unfortunately, this has not happened and I suspect the person who sold Collin the drugs could be continuing to use and sell to others. I know what you’re thinking: That’s too bad, but it doesn’t affect me. And besides, if drugs were involved, he must have been a bad kid. Those who know …Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by Hank Moreira
I have taken Vicodin for 20 years for arthritis, two collapsed discs in my back and spondylolisthesis. I also have fibromyalgia and nerve pain that can leave me bed-ridden for days. When I get an episode, I take Vicodin to get me on my feet again. I cannot understand the media recognition this medication gets; being equated to something like heroin in most cases. It does not produce a high and feels like I took a Benadryl. Taking more than 1-2 pills can cause upset stomach, even vomiting – so I couldn’t overdose even if I was an addict. I’m …Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by Hank Moreira
After completing 4 years at the University of Northern Colorado for my Bachelor of Science in 1990, 1 year at Johns Hopkins University for my Masters in Health Science in 1996, and 2 ½ years into my Ph.D. in respiratory medicine at the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University in 1996-98, I thought I had complete control of my life. Specifically, my career in aerosol respiratory medicine. I had published my first paper in a respectable peer reviewed medical journal (Chest) when I was 27. Several months after that, I presented the paper at a medical conference in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. …Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse
This is a speech that I read when I spoke at a joint legislative research committee in Raleigh NC back in September of 2010. Hello, I first want to take the time to say Thank You for allowing me the time to speak about something so very close to my heart. My name is Frankie Andrews, I am 46 years old. I was 42 before I had my one and only child. I say this because, for the longest time the closest thing I ever had to a child of my own was my nephews and nieces. Family is everything …Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by Hank Moreira
Almost a year and a half ago, right after I graduated High School in a small town in Virginia, I had a panic attack. I was living with my grandma at the time and was on the phone with my friend, like any teenager, having a normal conversation. I felt my heart race, I felt my palms sweating, I felt like I was going to pass out and then…I started to freak out. I was so scared, because I had no idea of what was happening. Once I conviced my grandma to drive me to the ER they found that …Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by Hank Moreira
My poor brother worked for a roofing company and he fell off a roof. He fell over twenty feet and became paralyzed from the waist down. The doctors put him on perscription drugs and his at-home healthcare nurse and family members took advantage of him since he had a lot of money from worker’s comp. Now he’s dead and my family members are trying to change his will to leave me out. It’s horrible what people will do for money. He died of a heart attack while doing handicap skiing on Sugarloaf ski Mt. I love you dear brother and …Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by Hank Moreira
This is the story of my parents, my family, and how prescription drugs and doctors and a state that just don’t care about people have destroyed us. There is nothing special about my family. We were a normal, everyday family who lived in a very middle class suburb in a city in Nebraska. We were dysfunctional to some extent, but no more so than millions of other families. I have left the names out, but it will be easy to figure out the case. My dad was born in 1927 in Lincoln, Nebraska. He was the youngest of five children …Continue reading →
National Coalition Against Prescription Drug AbusePosted on by Hank Moreira
It was about 10 years ago when I started taking Percocet for chronic pain. At first I was taking it as prescribed by my doctor.Shortly after I was pregnant with my second daughter. As soon as I found out I was expecting I quit taking them.That lasted for about a month and I was hospitalized with some kidney issues and they were giving me demoral. When I was released from the hospital I continued once again with the Percocet. I justified taking it through my pregnancy because I was getting it from a doctor. After my daughter was born was …Continue reading →