PRESCRIPTION MEDECINS USE AND ABUSE 2

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.

Although substance abuse among the elderly, like alcohol is low considered compared to the general population, its prevalence is still high. A study showed the prevalence of alcohol related problems ranged from 1.4% to 22% (Adams, et al., 1993). It can be understood that the level of alcohol related problems diminishes as an individual ages.

With access to prescription drugs, people are able to treat a multitude of diseases and illnesses. These drugs help deal with pain, inability to sleep, depression, and much more. Every day we are increasingly living in a world where there is better living through chemicals. However, what most do not seem to see is the rising tide of pain, illness, and ultimately death being caused by the pills people take every day. Most keep drugs in a special place in their minds, where they see them as harmless. Sadly, this is not the case, and in some cases our prescription drugs can be just as harmful as illegal drugs (King 68).

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

On November 21, 2013, Theanna Khou pleaded guilty to dispensing and selling OxyContin from his Huntington Pharmacy without medical necessity from fraudulent prescriptions issued by a clinic (" Health care fraud investigations," 2014). Khou billed Medicare for filling prescriptions that patients never received. This story is becoming a norm for the health care industry, because the growing financial prosperity of the health industry. Corruption and crime is changing, turning from drug dealing to a safer haven that has less legal management, organization, and more wherewithal the business of health care fraud.

Just by utilizing medications they turn out to be a piece of that medication world. They are officially committing a crime. Be that as it may, the relationship between medications utilize and wrongdoing frequently implies that medication clients go ahead to carry out unlawful acts like robbery, burglary, assault, and

PMP data provides insight into questionable activity, either by physicians, patients whom “physician shop”, or prescription fraud.1 This database is unique in that it compiles information about the physician that wrote the medication, the pharmacy that dispensed it, the patient receiving the medication, and payment method into a central

Prescription drug abuse, now known as the “silent epidemic,” is spreading rapidly in the United States, so who’s to blame? This essay will argue that oftentimes, pharmaceutical companies are responsible for luring the opioid dependent population, and more often than not, causing their deaths. It is their greed that over powers the true meaning of medicine. One would think that millions of dollars in profits would be enough. However, considering it is a multibillion dollar industry, apparently not. Selfishness shown by bribery, false advertisements and “the Domino Effect,” will reveal that they are truly guilty.

Fraudulent prescriptions are also on the rise. Physicians are writing illegal prescriptions that are billed for a claim for reimbursement, but have yet to see a bill of rendered services that called for the actual prescription. This often ends up happening to a patient who has little or no medical issues and has never been seen before. The provider who receives the forged prescription profits an anticipated amount of 15% to $20% in profits. (AGHAEGBUNA ,2011). There are four types of fraud that healthcare providers’ organization face. Patient fraud, provider employee fraud, provider billing fraud and payer fraud, even though providers need to receive payment for their service they should be more preventative action in place to ensure that these fraudulent activities can be detected.

Physicians in several places have a bad reputation due to billing fraud. These acts are committed by individuals and organizations to proceed personal or business advantage. In fact, health care fraud is a type of crime that may be committed by health care providers or companies which provide medical supplies or services, and health care organizations. It is a recent trend to which physicians and their practices are unfortunately doing by organized crime groups in complex health care fraud schemes.

Prescription Drug Fraud and Misuse. This report shows us fraud by pharmacists and Doctors, however, that’s nothing! The worst scenario is where the patient claims a really headache or something and the Doctor allowing the patient maximum access to medications.

he drastic increases in prescription drug abuse rates reflect a major pub- lic health crisis in this country. As Gil Kerlikowske, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, stated: “The spikes in prescrip- tion drug abuse rates . . . are dramatic, pervasive, and deeply disturbing.”46 The widespread problem raises a number of questions about the ease of obtaining prescription drugs and the lack of effective oversight by both the medical community and the government. As Dr. Cyril Wecht, a forensic pathologist who worked on the Anna Nicole Smith case, stated in an interview with ABC News: “How are these people getting four or five drugs each with a psychotropic component? . . . Where is the federal government? Where

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.