October 11, 2012
Raskin Treats Addiction Medically
Many residents like to think of Pacific Palisades as a tiny corner of paradise un’affected by drug and alcohol issues. Dr. Damon Raskin, an internist who has about 1,000 patients in his Palisades practice, discounts that notion.
‘Addiction affects all ages and all socioeconomic classes,’ said Raskin, who has been helping patients with addictions for the past 10 years, including six at Cliffside Malibu, a drug and alcohol rehabil’itation center north of Zuma Beach.
‘We’re seeing a lot of opiates, especially drugs like Oxycontin, Vicodin and Percocet,’ Raskin said. ‘People are getting it off the street and from their friends’ medicine cabinets. They ‘doctor shop’ and also go to emergency rooms asking for pain medicine.’
Once a patient admits he (or she) has a problem, some try to stop ‘cold turkey.’ The alternative is a ‘medically supervised’ detox program, which Raskin considers pref’erable, because when people who are drinking a fifth of vodka or two bottles of wine daily suddenly stop, their bodies can go into seizures.
Raskin also noted that people who are taking 20 to 30 Vicodin a day have developed a tolerance, and for them to stop suddenly can be life-threatening. Even those going through detox ‘can have insomnia, vomiting and severe muscle aches and it becomes so uncomfortable they go back to the substance to stop the pain,’ Raskin said. ‘Their attitude is ‘Screw this, I’m out of here.”
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