Prescription Drug Addiction Effects

Many people have developed an addiction due to an injury and which were prescribed painkillers to manage and treat the pain. Prolonged use leads to dependence and once a person is addicted, increasing amounts of drugs are required to prevent feeling of withdrawal. Addiction to painkillers often leads to harder drugs such as heroin due to the black market drug being cheaper. Prescription drugs remain a far deadlier problem and more people abuse prescription medication than cocaine, methamphetamine heroin, MDMA and PCP combined. Drug abuse is ending too many lives too soon and destroying families and communities.

After reviewing this article, I have determined that the dimensions of health involved with this issue are physical, environmental, and intellectual. For starters, this issue affects a person's physical health because it causes the body to deteriorate until eventually the person dies. Those who become addicted fail to take proper care of their body with healthy products but rather ingest harmful ones. Another dimension involved is environmental because depending where a person lives will depend how accessible these painkillers are. In an area where a doctor over prescribes painkillers, or people illegally sell painkillers, there should be a higher addiction rate because painkillers are easier to obtain. The final dimension involved

Prescription drug abuse is a problem that is not just focused on adults. There has been a substantial rise in prescription drug abuse among teenagers. Teens are abusing prescription drugs for a number of reasons, including to get high, pain treatment, and/or because they think that it will assist them with school work (Coalition against Drug Abuse, 2014). However boys and girls tend to abuse some types of prescription drugs for different reasons. For example, boys are more likely to abuse prescription stimulants to get high, where girls would abuse them to stay alert to study or for weight loss.

This Research Project will be on the effects of Prescription Drug Abuse, and the affects it can have on the lives of those abusing them. In the report I will go into further details on the difference between what it means to be physically dependent to prescription drugs, and what it means to be addicted to the prescription drugs. Questions will be left to ask as to why there are so many overdoses to prescription drugs, and what ages groups are more likely to abuse them What can we do to stop the easy access there is to most of these drugs? How do most of these prescriptions become so easily abused and What can the adverse side effects be? Out of 52million people 20% of those aged 12 and older have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons, many would say it is because of them been so easily accessible, but I would argue and say it is because nowadays many of the younger generations are following what they see on t.v such as

This week I chose to further explore the article Prescription Drug Abuse and Addiction: Past, Present and Future: The Paradigm for an Epidemic written by P. B. Hall MD, DABAM, AAMRO, Denzil Hawkinberry II, MD, DABA, Pam Moyers-Scott, PAC, MPAS, DFAAPA as more and more individuals are abusing and becoming addicted to prescription medications. The article provides a great amount of statistical data for the US but is primarily focused on the population in West Virginia where Governor Joe Manchin III states, “Substance abuse affects a broader segment of West Virginia’s citizens and their state and local governments than any other single issue confronting us today” (Hall, Hawkinberry, II, & Moyers-Scott, 2010). West Virginia is far from the only state facing the prescription drug epidemic as it is becoming more and more prevalent across the US each year. “It is estimated that in 2009, the number of adolescents and adults with a substance abuse and/or dependence problem has reached 23.2 million in the US” (Hall, Hawkinberry, II, & Moyers-Scott, 2010). In the past, addiction has been thought of as the disease of the weak, but with advancement in brain imaging technology to accurately measure neurotransmitters addiction is now recognized as a disease. Prescription drug abuse and addiction has enormous socioeconomic costs in the areas of medical expenses, drug related crime, and unemployment. “Current estimates of the financial burden to society due to substance abuse exceeds half a

There are many theories, though. For example, some people may inherit certain genes that make them more likely to abuse drugs. Another theory is that people learn how to use drugs by copying the behavior of others. Also, changes that happen in the brain due to long-term drug use may reinforce a person 's desire to keep using drugs.

The most common prescription drugs abused are opioids, central nervous system depressants, and stimulants. Opioids were meant to treat pain. CNS depressants are meant to treat sleep disorders and anxiety. Stimulants treat sleep disorders, narcolepsy and ADHD (unknown 8) What is unknown? The source? The author? This makes your source invalid.. The 10 most common prescription drugs abused from most to least used are Oxycotin, Xanax, Adderall, Ritalin, Vicodin, Percocet, Valium, Ambien, Promethazine, and Phenobarbital (unknown 17). “Most drugs of abuse directly or indirectly target the brain’s reward system by flooding the circuit with dopamine”. Dopamine sends messages telling someone to happy, feel things, and their bodies. Overworking your system with the drugs makes crazy effects, tempting the drug abuser to try the drug again. “When some drugs of abuse are taken, they can release, two to ten times the amount of dopamine that natural rewards such as eating and sex do.” Regular pleasures become less appealing causing a decrease in the responses to natural rewards (Volkow 16). This causes nerve activity to decrease because it is trying to get rid of the dopamine quicker. The next time the abuser uses the drug they will need more of it to get

Prescription drug abuse can lead to addiction, over dose or even death. More and more people are dying each day from drug overdoses. The use of the prescription drugs in the wrong manner can result in several different life altering side affects. Between the three main types of prescription drugs used the side affect can range from repertory failure, seizures, brain damage, extreme weight loss or even death. Our bodies were not designed to take these drugs in such a way. The body becomes dependent on the drugs and withdraws cause serious and painful side affects. The brain creates certain chemicals to help us deal with pain whether it’s mental or physical, and the abuse of prescription drug throws everything out of whack. It’s ironic how something that is designed to help us can also destroy us. (Prescription)

An additional myth, “All that matters is easing my pain” (Hitti) which isn’t necessarily true. Yes, helping relieve the pain is the goal, but not the only goal. For those who have the mentality of thinking that the only target of prescription medication is pain alleviation are at a higher risk of addiction because they don’t realize the amount of medication they ingest while trying to avoid the ache. Last, but not least, “I am a strong person. I won’t get addicted.” Fisherman explains, “Addiction isn’t about willpower, and it’s not moral failure, it’s a chronic disease and some people are genetically more vulnerable than others.” (Hitti) As stated earlier if your family has a history of addiction there is a greater possibility of you having a dependence towards controlled substances. With all these myths, along with several more proceeding, physicians should be required to inform the patients of all potential issues, such as addiction, if mistreating prescription

Prescription opioid pain relievers account for more deaths than both cocaine and heroin combined (Stewart). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that the fatal overdoses caused by prescription drugs is around 26,000 a year in the United States (Szabo). Prescription drug abuse is becoming a greater threat each day. It has become an epidemic, especially in the United States. As of 2011, 75% of the world’s opioid prescription drugs were prescribed and consumed in a country that makes up less than five percent of the world’s population (Gupta). Why is that the case? The United States lacks strict regulation and monitoring of these drugs. Therefore, prescription drugs should be better regulated to prevent abuse

There are many ways this can come about. One of the most tragic ways people are addicted to drugs is through birth. One in ten babies are born with a drug addiction most commonly from opiates. People can also become addicted through family members; this can be simply from growing up around a family member who relies on prescription drugs heavily without censoring their use, especially if there are impressionable children who live in these circumstances. The next reasoning, I want to point out is that there are many people who work in health care facilities that have easy access to medications without any question.

Various types of drugs introduce complications in the world today, but prescription drug abuse provides one of the largest issues. The use of a medication without a prescription, in a way other than as prescribed, or for the experience or feelings elicited pertains to the meaning of prescription drug abuse. According to several national surveys, prescription medications, such as those used to treat pain, attention deficit disorders, and anxiety, are being abused at a rate second only to marijuana among illegal drug users. The consequences of this abuse have consistently worsened, reflected in increased treatment, emergency room visits, and overdose deaths. The classes of prescription drugs most commonly abused consist of: opioid pain relievers,

Physical pain can cause debilitation and or life altering restrictions to normal activities of daily living. As we age, our bodies degenerate. Poor lifestyle choices, neglect and or bad luck due to genetics can predispose us to painful ailments. Many elderly people choose to take potentially addictive substances to maintain a quality of life. Due to tolerance, medication doses are increased over time to achieve a similar result. The substance abuse then becomes about negating side effects, replacing the original goal of achieving pain relief and increasing a quality of life.

Drug addiction is a chronic relapsing brain disorder which produces compulsive drug seeking and use. The abuse of drugs leads to changes in the function and structure of the brain. Consuming chemical substances to achieve pleasure or euphoria The most commonly abused classes of prescription drugs according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse include opioids used for chronic pain; central nervous system (CNS) depressants used in anxiety and sleep disorder treatments; and stimulants, such as amphetamine among others, utilized to treat attention deficit disorder and narcolepsy.[4]

What are some of the contributing factors? Some scientists believe that certain individuals are at greater risk of drug dependence because of psychological factors, including difficulty controlling impulses, lack of values in drug use, low self-esteem, peer pressure, and depression. Risk-taking also increases between childhood and adolescence as a result of changes around the time of puberty in the brain’s socio-emotional system leading to increased reward-seeking, especially in the presence of peers. (3) Younger people also believe that they will not lose control if they use drugs. Genetics can also contribute to the increased likelihood that an individual will abuse drugs.