Prescription Drug Addiction Treatment

Prescription drug dependence usually starts somewhere entirely reasonable: surgery, an injury, an anxiety diagnosis, an ADHD prescription. There is no moment where someone decides to become dependent, which is part of why it takes people so long to name it.

Golden Coast Rehab treats prescription medication dependence in adults across San Diego County on an outpatient basis, across the three classes it usually involves — opioid pain medication, benzodiazepines, and prescription stimulants.

We do not spend time on how it began. What matters clinically is what you are taking now, how much, and what stopping safely requires.

How prescription drug dependence is treated here

Golden Coast Rehab holds California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) substance use disorder certification 370254AP for outpatient detoxification, outpatient, intensive outpatient, and medication-assisted treatment. We do not provide residential or inpatient treatment, and there is no substance use partial hospitalization program here — partial hospitalization at Golden Coast Rehab is a specialty mental health service under our County of San Diego contract.

Outpatient detox

What withdrawal looks like depends entirely on the class. Opioid withdrawal is severe but rarely dangerous. Benzodiazepine withdrawal can cause seizures and requires a slow supervised taper — never an abrupt stop. Stimulant withdrawal is mainly exhaustion and depression. The assessment establishes which applies to you and what is safe.

Medication-assisted treatment

For dependence on prescription opioids, medication-assisted treatment applies exactly as it does for any other opioid use disorder, and it is the most effective option available.

Intensive outpatient program

The core of treatment: several sessions a week of group and individual therapy while you live at home and, in most cases, keep working. This is where the actual work on triggers, craving, and the life around the using happens.

Outpatient program

A lighter weekly schedule that follows intensive outpatient and keeps the clinical relationship intact through the first year, when relapse risk is highest.

When a mental health condition is also present

Depression, anxiety, trauma, and bipolar disorder frequently sit alongside a substance use disorder, and treating only one of them is the most reliable way to end up back where you started. Both are treated here by one clinical team — see dual diagnosis, or the same care framed from the mental health side on co-occurring disorders.

Coverage and cost

Substance use treatment for Medi-Cal beneficiaries in San Diego County runs through the Drug Medi-Cal Organized Delivery System, administered by San Diego County Behavioral Health Services rather than by your managed care plan. If you have Medi-Cal in the county — any of the four plans — and you meet criteria, care here can be covered at no cost to you. See how Medi-Cal works here.

Call (858) 925-8589, answered 24 hours a day. In a crisis, the San Diego County Access and Crisis Line is available around the clock at 1-888-724-7240.