Prescription Drug Abuse

One in three Americans are prescribed opioids from their doctor. Once someone is prescribed a medication and take it daily, as told to do so by the doctor, it is extremely easy to become dependent on the pills. Dependency on a drug means that the body physically craves it and may experience withdrawals when the prescription is stopped. Addiction characterizes as a mental need for the drug. The behavior changes and abusing the medication will begin.

I can’t count the number of prescriptions I get from the same doctor for the same medication same quantity on a daily basis. I feel that some doctors are simply writing scripts to make the patient happy when in reality their feeding the addiction. I have seen patients jump form pharmacy to pharmacy in order to fill multiple scripts for the same medication on the same day. There is a system that collects and keeps track of the what types of controlled and narcotic medications people received, however the system takes days to update, so it almost impossible to know right away when the last time a patient received a particular opioid medication. Another issue that I believe is feeding the addiction for drugs abusers is the sale of needles. Depending on the state, people who do not have a prescription for needles or a medication that requires the use of needles, can simply walk into a pharmacy and buy a box of needles. Anyone with commons sense would see that if you don’t have a prescription that requires needles your most likely using it for illegal reasons. Pharmacy regulations make it to easy for people to get what they need in order to “get

To illustrate the magnitude of the research problem and provide a frame of reference, this section begins with a brief overview of the increased use of pharmaceuticals and prescription drug abuse in the US. The section continues with the relationship between illicit drugs and prescriptions, adolescents’ abuse, personal and social factors; then concludes with the theoretical approach. The Social-Ecological Theory, will be applied in researching prescription drug abuse, possible influences and protective factors in adolescents in relation to prescription drug abuse, to develop focused intervention strategies and educational programs for this population, similar to other substances such as tobacco, alcohol, and marijuana.

Millions of people throughout the world are taking drugs on a daily basis. If you were to ask someone why they take prescription drugs, most people would be taking them for the right reason. However, it’s estimated that twenty percent of people in the United States alone have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons.1 Prescription drug abuse is a serious and growing problem that often goes unnoticed. Abusing these drugs can often lead to addiction and even death. You can develop an addiction to certain drugs that may include: narcotic painkillers, sedatives, tranquilizers, and stimulants.1 Prescription drugs are the most common abused category of drugs, right next to marijuana, cocaine, heroin, and

The rate of death due to prescription drug abuse in the U.S. has escalated 313 percent over the past decade. According to the Congressional Quarterly Transcription’s article "Rep. Joe Pitt Holds a Hearing on Prescription Drug Abuse," opioid prescription drugs were involved in 16,650 overdose-caused deaths in 2010, accounting for more deaths than from overdoses of heroin and cocaine. Prescribed drugs or painkillers sometimes "condemn a patient to lifelong addiction," according to Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This problem not only affects the lives of those who overdose but it affects the communities as well due to the convenience of being able to find these items in drug stores and such.

    There has been an increase in heroin and opioid abuse in america. It has been affecting everyone and the incoming generation greatly. The use of pain reliever drugs is often the leading cause to abusing opioids and/or heroin. These pain relievers are often addictive and once people are addicted and cut off from them they begin searching for other ways to satisfy their cravings. The prescription drugs are often easily dispensed to people so it’s easier to access. This easy access makes it easier for people to get a prescription, leading to a higher risk of addiction.

There are many reasons people misuse or abuse prescription drugs like for instance they think it’s a safer way than to use illegal drugs, they are “not addictive”, or they are easier to acquire than illegal drugs. Approximately 40% of adolescents reported that they thought prescription drugs are much safer to use than illegal drugs, even if they are not prescribed by a doctor (Bukstein and Nquyen). The accessibility to prescription drugs is at a high. People acquire the drugs through diversion which is the most common means of obtaining prescriptions for unintended purposes (Elliott). Diversion is the channeling of prescription drugs from legal use to illegal use (Ford and Watkins). Getting drugs from siblings,

A new escalating drug abuse epidemic has come about in the recent years; people are now choosing prescription pills as their new drug of choice. The use, abuse and death caused by prescription drugs has increased significantly within the past couple years. All types of prescription pills are more easily accessible from their doctors, family members or off the street. Doctors are handing out prescriptions for pills, such as pain management pills, muscle relaxers, and anti-anxiety, like they are candy and not potentially dangerous to the consumers. In today’s society doctors are over prescribing pills to Americans and the prescription pill distribution should be more closely monitored and controlled. Although there are people who benefit

This was a vicious cycle then and still is a vicious cycle now. With doctors handing out prescriptions, such as opiates nonchalantly to patients that have minor conditions such as a pulled muscle, it is more than likely fueling drug abuse like gasoline to a fire. Although, if someone has ever had to receive medication that requires more effort than grabbing it off of the convenience store shelf, realize that pharmacists now cannot legally distribute prescription medication without one 's’ personal prescription. The Encyclopedia of Alcohol and Drugs in North America also notes that Vicodin and Xanax earn the title as two of the most commonly prescribed drugs distributed by doctors and also reside as the most commonly abused prescription drugs in United States.

Most people are familiar with prescription medications; almost everyone has taken them at one point or another during their lifetime. Not all prescription drugs are addicting, but a large number of them are. Prescription drug abuse is a disease that has become a major problem in the United States, which affects over six-million Americans. Prescription drug abuse not only affects the individual, but can additionally have far-reaching consequences that affect family, personal health, employment, communities and society as a whole. Research has shown that at least 10% of people prescribed an addictive medication will become dependent on the medicine. Due to prescription drug abuse, states are beginning to monitor doctors who prescribe certain medications, more closely, which may scare some physicians away from prescribing helpful medications to people who truly need them.

Drug abuse and addiction remain large and persistent problems. Nationally, addiction and abuse of all substances costs the economy an estimated $600 billion dollars annually. Indeed, over the past decade, illicit drug use appears to be steady or rising (2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health; DHHS). From this we see that prescription and non-prescription opioid use is particularly problematic. For example, prescription pain reliever misuse has remained consistently high for most of the last decade and makes up the largest portion of misuse of prescription drugs (Figure 1). In addition people who report using heroin within the last year has increased by over 50% since 2001 (Figure 2).

Prescription drug abuse has become a major epidemic across the globe, shattering and affecting many lives of young teenagers. Many people think that prescription drugs are safer and less addictive than “street drugs.” After all, these are drugs that moms, dads, and even kids brothers and sisters use. The dangers are not easily seen, but the future of our youth will soon be in severe danger if the problem is not addressed,it will continue to get worse if action is not taken soon. Prescription drugs are only supposed to be consumed by patients who have been examined and have a medical report by a professional, more and more teens are turning to the family’s medicine cabinet to “get high” but what they are

Prescription drug abuse has been around since doctors started prescribing medication, but widespread prescription drug abuse and addiction has only surfaced in the last 20 years or so. Unfortunately because these drugs are continued to be abuse widely, there are concerns for physicians who are legitimately prescribing these medications to patients who truly need them. However there are doctors who recklessly prescribe these drugs to unknowing patients who form addictions to them. Prescription medications commonly abused include opioids often prescribed to treat pain, central nervous system depressants used to treat anxiety, and stimulants used for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) as well as some sleeping disorders.

The purpose of this report is to show the major problems we face in America if we do not address the misuse of prescription drugs. America’s pain pill and heroin addiction exceeds that of all other countries in the world, statistics from the UN office on Drugs and Crimes show. This report will show emphasis on the misuse of prescription drugs and some of the causes.

Officer Reynolds informed this writer that many of the teens he has came in contact with have informed him thatAccording to a report from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, approximately one in five teenagers have abused a prescription painkiller and one in 11 has abused OTC products (Gara, 2005). Officer Reynolds also spoke about the different parties these teens have with the different drugs they are able to obtain. He stated they have “skittle” and “pharm” parties and who knows what else. This writer asked Officer Reynolds