The Rise Of 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

Although opioids are legal when prescribed by a doctor or dentist, there is a chance of exemplary people with moderate to severe pain unintentionally becoming hooked on this extremely addictive drug. People who become addicted to drugs feel guilt, embarrassment, and

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).

Not all prescription drugs have the potential for abuse and addiction. Many drugs don’t even act in the brain. For example, antibiotics are not addictive. On the rare occasion people who take drugs for medical conditions may become addicted. This is why it is extremely important to be under a doctor’s care while taking prescription medication.4 Most prescription drugs are taken in a form that gets to the brain slowly at a dose that treats a problem, but doesn’t overwhelm the system. Both of which reduce the likelihood of an addiction. Long-term medical use of prescription drugs can

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.

Through my observations of the Narcotics Anonymous meeting I believe that my analysis could be beneficial to the realm of medicine. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2014) released a study that displayed, “health care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for painkillers in 2012, enough for every American adult to have a bottle of pills.” Considering the mass amount of prescriptions being written nationwide, it is not surprising that one of the members in the NA meeting I attended was able to easily obtain painkillers from her doctor. The specific interaction I encountered during the Narcotics Anonymous meeting where the woman described that her addiction was being supported by the constant prescriptions written by her doctor

Doctors don’t exactly know how many people are addicted to pain medication, but one of the reasons so many people are is the availability.

Prescription drug abuse and misuse is becoming a major public health issue in the United

There is a big chance of someone becoming addicted to pain medications. “Many doctors under-prescribe pain medication for patients suffering from chronic pain over concerns that it will cause

There are many reasons why people turn to drugs like financial challenges, psychological, and etc... Medical patients are allowed to buy

There are three types of prescribed abused drugs: opioids, depressants, and stimulants. The most powerful is opioids. Opioids are used to block out pain. Some of these include opanas, oxycontin, and roxicodone, and 5.1 million Americans abuse them regularly (Drugabuse.gov). Some of those pills can cost any where from five dollars a pill all the way up to ninety dollars a pill (Drugs a-z) and could even cost more than that depending on where you live. Some of the street names can be roxy, o.p.s, oxy, and captain coden(Drug abuse.gov). ´“At the age of 20, I became an addict to a narcotic,which began with a prescription following a surgery.¨´-James. People normally become addicted to painkillers because of doctor giving them prescriptions after a major surgery.

drugs you should consult with a doctor. Once a patient is unable to get their

I’ve personally been offered prescription drugs and OTC drugs simply because I said I have a headache or my stomach is bothering me. It can be that simple as someone just trying to help you and then and gives you access to that drug whatever it may be. The truth is that people don’t just use the prescription drugs or OTC drugs for things like headaches or stomach problems, especially teenagers, according to our textbook “Abuse of prescription drugs among teenagers has become an increasing problem” You might be wondering why teenagers need these drugs or at least feel like they need them. Well according to DrugAbuse.Gov there are several reasons why teenagers engage in prescription drug use. Some of which include: “Easy to get from parent's medicine cabinets, Available everywhere, They are not illegal drugs, Easy to get through other people's prescriptions and They are cheap.” The one reason with the most percentage of teenagers who said they engage in the use of prescription drugs was “Easy to get from parent's medicine cabinets” which has an astounding 62% of teenagers saying this. Which leads me to my first solution to the problem of prescription/over-the-counter drug abuse. We have to find better

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.