Essay On Prescription Drugs

Prescription drug prices rose three times faster than inflation in the decade between 1981 and 1991, making the pharmaceutical industry the nation's most profitable business. Prescription drugs even exceeded the rapidly rising inflation rate for all other medical services. They now represent at least 10% of all the medical

We have so many questions when it comes to pharmaceutical prices continuously rising here in America.

Prescription medications are intended to help individuals not create new problems. When an individual is diagnosed with ADHD they often seek medical attention. Medication will often be prescribed to help this individual manage their ADHD symptoms. However, many of the medications used to treat ADHD are stimulants. These stimulants can have adverse effects on the human body. There are hidden dangers when using ADHD medications such as side effects, addiction, and classification.

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.

Everyday there are children receiving some kind of prescribed drug for psychological problems such as ADHD,anxiety disorder,autism,and many other disorders.However, children that are given prescribed drugs are usually given to them for convenience rather than necessity.Providing a child prescribed drugs at such a young age can lead to problems with their health in the future as well as other harming side effects,also nutrition is often overlooked and drugs prescribed may be doing more harm than good.Further more, children that are diagnosed with a psychological disorder and receive public assistance are more likely to receive off label medication which can be more dangerous. Therefore, children are not capable of sustaining the effects of prescribed medication because some children may be overdiagnosed and drugged for “parent convenience” ,there are dangerous long term side effects to some of

Prescription drug abuse is defined as using prescription drugs in a way that is not prescribed by a doctor or using someone else's prescription. People abuse prescription drugs for a variety of reasons (Misuse of Prescription Drugs). Some people abuse them to get high, others keep using to avoid withdrawals from the drug. Whereas stimulants such as adderall are often abused by students to improve academic performance.

Despite efforts to decrease the number of deaths and overdoses related to narcotic medications, such as OxyContin, and minimize the number of people illegally obtaining them, the measures that the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) in specific are taking are not enough. The literal definition of a narcotic is a drug that produces numbness or stupor; often taken for pleasure or to reduce pain; extensive use can lead to addiction. Narcotics are normally prescription medications that are given to patients to help ease the constant pain cause by cancer or other long term illnesses.

The cost of prescription drugs in America has risen to a level that most Americans could not afford them without the help of an insurance plan. The greedy and capitalistic pharmaceutical companies rely on the United States to fund the future development of drugs with skyrocketing prices. Public health costs are bankrupting individual Americans and posing serious challenges to the city, state, and federal budgets. Some people are even going to Canada and Europe to buy prescription drugs. A numbers of Americans are forced to choose lower-priced drugs rather than expensive prescription drugs as their first line of defense against illness. The FDA is fighting both initiatives saying “they cannot guarantee the safety of imported drugs and challenging both the safety and effectiveness of many dietary supplements”. (by. Wyn Snow)

According to results from the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), an estimated 2.4 million Americans used prescription drugs non medically for the first time within the past year. This statistic averages to approximately 6,600 new people per day who are taking prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them, or are not needed to treat a serious condition anymore. More than one-half of the 2.4 million people taking prescription drugs for the first time are women, ,and about a third were aged 12-17. Prescription drug abuse is highest among young adults, ages 18-25. According to the NSDUH the most commonly abused prescription drugs are opiods, CNS depressants, and stimulants.

Prescription drug abuse is the use of prescribed medications for reasons other than intended by a doctor or medical professional. Prescription drug abuse involves the misuse of any and all drugs to alter the physical or mental status of a person. The misuse of prescription drugs is described as taking excess amounts, more frequently, or for much longer than originally prescribed.

“Medicare formularies have looked to create tier structures that are more complex than the two-tier framework with generic medications on tier 1 and brand medications on tier 2, and shift a greater cost burden for the patients through increased cost sharing.” (Patel, Audet, 2014) Another possibility is the federal government creates and mandates a caped pricing for all drugs, mediations and treatments. Capping the price on drugs and copays ensures that the prices don’t continue to rise to the point of being unobtainable. Some however would argue that by doing this it would create a monopoly of pricing and take away all incentive for companies to be competitive in drugs costs. Some may ask why does the federal government care, well because its simple they have the responsibility to ensure good public order and ensure economic stability. The federal government also has the ability to cut cost through systems and policies such as Medicare and the Affordable Care Act by making copays for individuals cheaper and ensuring the local doctors, clinics and facilities prescribe the most effective affordable

Prescription drugs have been proven to be much worse than marijuana. The fuss people make over the legalization of marijuana does not make sense when one thinks about the effects that overdosed or misused prescription drugs has had. Overdosed prescription drugs kill around 47,055 people a year, and overdosed prescription drugs have no death record. The health effects of overdosed prescriptions are much worse when compared to overdosed prescription drugs. Also, the dangers of prescription drugs are portrayed as often and as correct as the dangers of marijuana.

The United States has a had an excessive increase in the number of individuals who have abuse the prescriptions that are being prescribed by providers. Due to this increase amount prescription abuse, there has been a large amount of overdosing of deaths that have occurred. It has reached a concern to many individuals because it has reached wide-ranging levels and it needs to be evaluated. This analysis will evaluate and provide examples of how many people are abusing the prescriptions. As well as examining why our country has unsuccessfully discussed this alarms to the public.

The main type of dangerous drugs you hear about are the illegal ones. However, if you abuse prescription drugs they can have major consequences as well. Most people use drugs prescribed by doctors or physicians without abusing them. The estimated amount of adults using prescription drugs as a recreational use is as high as 20%. Many of the people using prescription drugs do not understand how harmful the side effects of these drugs are. Most people abuse prescription drugs to get the better mood, adrenaline rush, or to ease mental or physical pain. Most of the abused prescription drugs are sedatives, tranquilizers, or painkillers. These are widely found and easy to obtain. Many of the addicts are either prescribed by a doctor or stolen from a friend or relative. Most of the addicts are oblivious

Prescription medication is an important part of healthcare and a must have for patients because it helps manage a lot of symptoms and diseases. It can help kill bacteria causing patients to feel ill, it can also reduce pain and suffering for others. However, most mediations have some type of adverse side effects as it is made from chemicals processes or extracts from herbal plants. There are contraindications and cautions to every medication in which we have to be aware of when prescribing the medication; there is also drug to drug interactions that may occur. To help prevent medication errors we can use online resources to look for any drug to drug interactions and contraindication/adverse effects. We also need to stress the importance