The difference with high profile celebrities and white collar addiction in comparison to those with much less stature is the ability to conceal their problem with adequate funds to supply their habits. They are not forced to commit crimes in order to finance their habit which keeps them out of the spotlight longer.

The Drug Enforcement Agency reports that Vicodin is the most abused prescription drug in the United States. DAWN data demographics further claims that Vicodin is often seen as the “white collar” addiction. The average Vicodin addict is female between the ages of 20-40. Everyone's doing it, from teenagers to soccer moms to high profile celebrities. Matthew Perry, Melanie Griffith, Eminem, David Spade, Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, and Rush Limbaugh have all been warriors in the war of Vicodin addiction.

Much of what has been found to treat Vicodin addiction is learned fro

The fact that treatment for this disease has low priority is proven and reflected in the limited insurance coverage that is provided. Consider the fact that despite the fact that managing addiction is similar to managing other chronic diseases, most employer-provided health insurance policies place greater burdens on patients of substance abuse treatment programs in terms of cost-sharing, co-payments, and deductibles. At the same time, many plans provide less coverage for the number of visits or days of coverage and annual dollar expenditures for treatment. Many health insurance companies have lower lifetime limits on amounts that can be spent on drug and alcohol treatment than on other illnesses (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2002).

Opiates have been around since the 1800’s which means that opiate addiction is also that old. A battle that has bore little fruit thus far is affecting so many people each year. Opiate addiction which comes in the form of heroin, Oxycontins, Vicodin, etc abuse is like a raging fire in a dry and brittle forest. It shows no partiality to who it strikes, it takes the rich along with the poor, and it takes the old along with the young.

m the treatment of heroin addiction. Both are opiates so the treatments are very similar in regards to how the addiction process works. Opiates kill off the opioid receptors which stimulate the brain and are responsible for lifting a person’s mood, helping that person feel motivated for everyday purposes, and natural pain relief. When a person starts using opiates regularly, the opiates that they are using are much stronger and more stimulating than the natural ones in their brain. As a result, the natural opiate receptors shrink and stop producing and eventually just die off within six months to one year after beginning to use the opiate.

Nationally, opiate addiction is going to be a problem until the right avenues are pursued for effective treatment. Medical insurance has to change and the money that is literally wasted for a ten or fifteen day inpatient treatment could be better used towards the harm reduction approach which better benefits the nation as well as the addict. Furthermore, prescribing physicians need to have more education and stringent policies in place so that they are more aware of the dispensing of these highly addictive opiates.

There are hundreds of thousands of opiate addicts in the United States alone (Farnum, S. 2007). The numbers are growing and as a result, this has become a social disaster. Society views addiction as a person who made bad choices lacks moral character and has lost control of their lives. For some reason that theory changes when the addiction surfaces on the high profile and white collar opiate junkies. The whole sociological perspective of this problem is caused from a lack of understanding of an entire classification of human beings.

Some topics in this essay:
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