Prescription Drug Addiction Effects

There are many factors such as biology, environment and development that results in the persons initial introduction into the world of drugs. Drug abuse may start as a way to socially connect. More often than not people try drugs for the first time in social

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

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

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.

Drug abuse is a major public health issue that impacts society both directly and indirectly; every person, every community is somehow affected by drug abuse and addiction and this economic burden is not exclusive to those who use substance, it inevitably impacts those who don't. Drugs impact our society in various ways including but not limited to lost earnings, health care expenditures, costs associated with crime, accidents, and deaths. The use of licit or illicit drugs long term, causes millions of deaths and costs billions for medical care and substance abuse rehabilitation and the effects of drug abuse extend beyond users, spilling over into the society at large, imposing increasing social and economic costs.

The misuse and abuse of prescription medications in the United States remains high, but few people are aware of just how big the problem really is. According to ASAM American Society of Addiction Medicine, "Drug overdose is the leading cause of accidental death in the US, with 55,403 lethal drug overdoses in 2015. Opioid addiction is causing this epidemic, with 20,101 overdose deaths related to prescription pain relievers, and also overdose deaths relating to heroin". Opioids are drugs which are prescribed to relieve pain. With continued use, the pain-relieving effects lessen and pain can become worse, so the body can develop dependence on the use of opioid. Opioid dependence causes withdrawal symptoms, which makes it difficult to stop taking

To begin, there are many reasons that could cause a child to become involved in these types of activities or addictions. One of the top reasons is from being truent at school. Truency has shown, from research, a large influence for drug or alcohol use. Those who skip school, not all of the students, are more likely to use drugs in some way. What causes this is the lack of supervision and

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

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.

Is it possible to stop prescription drug abuse? Prescription drug abuse is a growing problem in the country. The number of people becoming addicted to and abusing prescription drugs in the U.S. is growing every day. It is estimated that between 26.4 million and 36 million people abuse opioids worldwide, with an estimated 2.1 million people in the United States suffering from substance use disorders related to prescription opioid pain relievers in 2012 and an estimated 467,000 addicted to heroin. “The consequences of this abuse have been devastating and are on the rise (Volkow, (2014).” The abuse of prescription drugs is on the rise and has a negative effect on not only the people taking the drugs but their families, children and society.

For some people, the use of alcohol and drugs can lead to a chronic disease or long-term illness that has serious medical and social consequences. Are you feeling down, left out, trying to fit in? Addiction begins, so easily and takes over without any warning. It can begin with a bad day, consequences, peer pressure, or a teen trying to find a way to fit in. 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, which averages to approximately 6,600 initiates per day”. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “In 2014, 47,055 people died from drug overdoses. Since 2000, opioid drug

Prescription drug abuse is a modern-day disease. In an estimate, over six million American have abused prescription medication. However, there is no completely accurate way to measure this abuse. The number of people who have died is important, but the fact that many people suffer from addiction to prescription drugs is. Negative effects such as torn apart families, destroyed lives, and deaths are all results of Opioid overdoses. The question is why do people take opioids and what are they? According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse “Opioid are drugs formulated to replicate the pain reducing properties of opium. They include both painkillers such as morphine, oxycodone, or hydrocodone prescribed by doctors for chronic pain, as well

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)

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