Prescription Drug Abuse
Misuse of prescription drugs means taking a medication in a manner or dosage other than what is prescribed. This can include taking someone else’s prescription, even if for a legitimate medical complaint such as pain, or it can mean taking a medication to get high.
The three classes of medication most commonly misused, per the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), are:
1. Opioids, which are usually prescribed to treat pain
2. Central nervous system [CNS] depressants, such as tranquillizers, sedatives, and hypnotics, which are used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders
3. Stimulants which are most commonly prescribed to treat attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)
Misuse of prescription drugs can have serious medical consequences. Along with increases in prescription drug misuse over the last 15 years, are increases in emergency room visits and unintentional overdose deaths which have increased more than 4 times since 1999, and are more than overdose deaths from heroin and cocaine since 2002.
Misuse of prescription drugs is second only to marijuana use as the nation’s most commonly used illicit drug, according to SAMHSA’s report of Sept 2016.
In the US alone, 52 million Americans over the age of 12 have used prescription drugs non-medically in their lifetime, per National Institute on Drug Abuse.
Opioid misuse is a serious problem. According to the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), 4.2 percent of Americans aged 12 or older engaged in nonmedical use of prescription pain relievers in the past year.
Where did the prescriptions being abused come from?
Most of the prescription pain medications were gotten free from a friend or relative, who got them from a doctor in 83.8% of the cases. According to these statistics, a high percentage of friends and relatives are enabling millions of drug addicts.
Sources:
https://www.samhsa.gov/data/sites/default/files/report_1972/Spotlight-1972.pdf
