Why Do People Abuse Prescription Drugs?

The very same items a doctor prescribes to help people get well might be making them sick. Prescription drugs are being taken for reasons other than the ones they are being prescribed for, fueling an addiction that impacts as many as 48 million Americans ("Prescription Drug Abuse" WebMD). According to MedLinePlus, "an estimated 20 percent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons. This is prescription drug abuse." While a considerable amount of time, resources, and attention are focused on the problems associated with illicit drugs, prescription drug abuse is "an increasing problem," with very serious consequences for individuals, families, and communities (MayoClinic Staff). The United States Office of National Drug Control Policy claims, "Prescription drug abuse is the Nation's fastest-growing drug problem, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified prescription drug abuse as an epidemic." Because prescription drugs are viewed as safe due to their being part of the doctor's pharmacopeia, the same psychological, legal, ethical, and social barriers to abuse might not be present. However, prescription drug abuse creates a wide range of problems, including dangerous or lethal side effects, long-term addiction, and the dismantling of family and community

Studies show that in the last 15 years the rate of opioid overdose deaths has paralleled the rate at which opioid prescriptions are given. Each year the number of deaths attributed to opioid overdose has increased, reaching 47,055 in 2014 according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Still other statistics state that 4 out of 5 heroin users started on prescribed narcotics. When they could no longer obtain the drug legally, they turned to illegal means. Doctors at the American Medical Association, Hallam M. Gugelmann and Jeanmarie Perrone, state that “Individual use of prescription opioids increased 402% from 1997 to 2007. This increase in opioid prescribing parallels substantial increases in opioid addiction, fatal overdoses, and diversion of these drugs for recreational or nonmedical use.” The skyrocketing of overdose and death, as well as the millions of dollars expended for treatment has lead to a public outcry for change. Accomplishing this change seems daunting. How will America go about fixing such a pervasive problem? Logically, the only solution lies in changing the habits of the medical practitioners who are prescribing these medications and who started this

According to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention 44 people die each day in the United States of America due to an overdose of a prescription painkiller (“Joining the Fight”, n.d.). A staggering 2.1 million people in the United States suffer from substance abuse disorders and the number of people using opioids for nonmedical uses is continuing to rise (Volkow, 2014). Who is to blame for these outrageous numbers? I believe that the patient and the pharmaceutical companies are to blame for this on-growing problem. Some of the largest contributing factors to these growing statistics is that the pharmaceutical companies have very aggressive marketing of the medicines, which in turn leads to a rising number of prescriptions written for

McCarthy, M. (2007). Prescription drug abuse up sharply in the USA. The Lancet World Report. 369: 1505-1506.

In the United States, more than 2 million people suffer from substance abuse disorders that correlate with use of prescription opioid painkillers. Over the past 15 years, overdose deaths due to prescription opioids have more than quadrupled. One of the underlying causes is the over prescription of pain relievers by physicians. This was demonstrated in 2013, with the writing of 207 million prescriptions for opioid pain relievers.

Medicine has been around for thousands of years and has diversified and given us many options to treat illness or pain. Some are available as over-the-counter drugs that can be purchased almost anywhere and others require you to get a prescription from your doctor in order to get it. Some of these drugs that require a prescription often help people who deal with chronic pain, those who are at the end of their life, or cancer patients. Unfortunately these drugs, although helpful to those who need them, are being abused by millions of Americans every year. With doctors prescribing ludicrous amounts of prescription drug, sometimes when it is not even necessary, and our lack of knowledge on the subject, prescription drug abuse has become a big

Prescription drugs are some of the most abused substances in the country. The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that about 16 million people in the United States have used a prescription medication without a prescription or have used a prescription drug for a non-medical purpose in the past year. About seven million people have done so in the past month alone. These results show

People all over the world, continue to be tendered prescription medication, which in many cases further complicate health issues with its myriad of side effects. In fact, statistics have shown that approximately 100,000 people around the world die as a result of prescription drugs annually (Smith, 2012). On the contrary, according

Does one know about the prescription drug abuse epidemic our country is currently facing? Prescription drug abuse doesn’t discriminate, as it affects people of all ages, races, genders, and socioeconomic status. So what is causing this Prescription Drug Abuse Epidemic? A prescription drug also known as a pharmaceutical drug is used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Prescription Drug Abuse is known for being commonly recognized in developing nations, due to regulations and availability of the drugs. An article in the December 2008 issue of the International Journal of Drug Policy, "Drugs and Development: The Global Impact of Drug Use and

Did you know that prescription drug abuse is one of the leading causes of death in the United States? “According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, two-hundred and ninety people in the United States are killed by prescription drugs every day. (White)” That number is growing every year due to the lack of knowledge of prescription drugs and the potential harm they can cause. Many people are under the misconception that prescription drugs are safe because they are approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and they are prescribed by a doctor. Therefore, the drugs must be safe and could not possibly cause harm or be addicting. However, “the nonmedical use of prescription drugs is the fastest

Drug abuse and misuse are prominent problems in the United States, whether the issue is with trafficking, overdoses causing death, illegal recreational use in adolescents, or even improper prescriptions by medical professionals leading to physiological dependence. The formerly listed problems stem from outdated, yet current, classification system of drugs in the Controlled Substances Act (CSA). The “Heroin Epidemic” is an example of a problem concerning improper prescribing in medical practice; this issue began when many medical professionals began to prescribe potent painkillers to their patients early in their treatments. Over time and with consistent use, the patients grew to psychologically and physiologically depend on the painkillers. Eventually, the prescribed painkillers became unaffordable and patients began to depend on a cheaper drug with similar, yet more dangerous, effects: heroin. As a result, many are addicted to heroin as compared to prescription drugs. There is also an issue concerning qualified medical professionals that “pill mill,” meaning they prescribe Schedule II drugs such as oxycodone with the sole purpose to make more money; this puts the patient in danger in exchange for the doctor’s personal benefit. As a student pursuing a career in the medical field, I find that the proper implementation and use of medicine and drugs is vital to providing quality health care, so that events like the heroin

Every day, millions of Americans take some form of prescription drug to treat anything from an anxiety disorder to severe physical pain. They are not getting these drugs off of the streets, from a dark alley, or from a drug dealer; they are getting them from people that are supposed to help you feel better: doctors. “Roughly one in five Americans are prescribed an opiate every year, for treatment of an acute injury, for example, or dental work or for chronic pain.” (McCarthy) Obviously, some of the painkillers prescribed nowadays actually do help people function in everyday life, but, unfortunately, it is all too easy to become addicted to anything from OxyContin to Vicodin or Percocet. Almost every person can identify someone in their

Many people in America have overdosed on prescription drugs just by abusing them. Prescription drugs that are prescribed and sold in the United States has quadrupled the years. As a result of over prescribing leads to more abuse in the medication and/or more overdose deaths in America. But, however certain people may still need the medication to live and have a well functioning body but still abuse their prescription by taking more than instructed too and end up overdosing in the process of abuse. Many people in America don't even have to have the medication to be prescribed to them, some people just sell their prescription to random in their in the need of cash or if the other just wants something to make them feel good or relaxed. After just buying one pill, the buyer will the need to have more than just one pill, so they'll grow and addiction and start taking more than one at a time, which will lead to their

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA, 2014), Non-medical use of prescription drugs (NMUPD) applies to individuals who use prescription medications that are not prescribed to them, as well as the individuals who do in fact use the medication that which is prescribed to them, although not in the manner that is instructed and expected of them by their doctors (NIDA, 2014).

DuPont (2005) reports, "During the past decade, there has been a significant increase in the use of prescription medicines for an increasing number of indications. Participating fully in this trend has been the use of medicines to treat psychiatric disorders and the widespread use of narcotic analgesics to treat outpatients for the first time in a century." Errors in prescribing and over medicating has struck a wide spread controversy. Nonmedical use or use by someone who had not seen a physician to get a proper prescription is of a higher concern (DuPont, 2005).