Essay about Prescription Drug Abuse

Introduction.

When we think of drug nuts and maltreatment we usually think of people who take the common street drugs such as cocaine, cleft, heroine, or other illegal drugs. However most people do n’t recognize or take earnestly the turning figure of maltreaters of prescription drugs presently in our state. There is a common misconception that merely because a physician prescribes a certain drug that that is someway safer and different than utilizing the alleged street drugs. After all, you are being given a prescription to take the drug by your doctor, and it is non illegal or a offense. However, we must recognize that dependence is n’t limited to merely illicit drugs on the street, but frequently doctor prescribed medicines as good.

Prescription drugs have improved and saved infinite Numberss of lives over the old ages as many new discoveries have been achieved in scientific discipline and medical specialty in handling a assortment of known diseases. “However, utilizing these drugs without the supervising of a doctor or for intents different from their intended usage can take to serious inauspicious effects, including decease from overdose and physical dependence. Because many prescription drugs are frequently opiate based, when abused, these drugs can be as habit-forming and unsafe as illegal drugs.” 1 ) ( Pat Moore Foundation | Prescription Drug Abuse, 2009 ) .

Harmonizing to ( M.D, Volkow, 2005 ) , manager at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 2 ) “an estimated 48 million people ( ages 12 and older ) , have used prescription drugs for non-medical grounds, which represents about 20 per centum of the U.S. population.”

Additionally, 3 ) “in 2000, approximately 43 per centum of infirmary exigency admittances for drug overdoses ( about 500,000 people ) happened because of misused prescription drugs, and in “2006 entirely, 700,000 exigency room visits were attributed to prescription drug overdoses.” 4 ) ( Thibodeau, 2009 ) .

This type of drug maltreatment is increasing at an dismaying rate because of their widespread handiness, including online pharmaceuticss which have made it much easier for anyone regardless of age to get drugs without a prescription. ( Prescription Drug Abuse Information | Drug Rehab Programs, 2009 ) . 3 )

“One of the most common and primary methods of obtaining prescription drugs by nuts is by physician shopping harmonizing to the Drug Enforcement Administration ( DEA ) .”5 ) This method refers to a individual who continually searches out different physicians to order the same medicines in order to feed their dependences. I think most of us either know or have known persons or even household members who have resorted to this type of behaviour in order to acquire prescription drugs for this intent.

The most common types of drugs that are frequently abused are cardinal nervous system sedatives such as benzodiazepines or tranquillizers, often prescribed for anxiousness and kiping upsets, opioids and narcotics for hurting alleviation, and stimulations such as those given for attending shortage hyperactivity upset, ( ADHD ) , narcolepsy, and fleshiness. 6 ) ( Prescription Drug Abuse Chart – Drugs of Abuse and Related Topics – NIDA, 2009 )

“For illustration, U.S. prescriptions for stimulations ( including those taken for ADHD ) increased from around 5 million in 1991 to about 35 million in 2007. Prescriptions for opioid analgesics such as oxycodone ( OxyContin ) and hydrocodone ( Vicodin ) increased from 40 million in 1991 to 180 million in 2007.” 7 ) ( Mayo Clinic, 2008 ) .

I feel the grounds for this important addition in prescription drug maltreatment is simple. We live in a society today that tells you a pill can bring around and work out all of your jobs no affair what they are. All we have to make is turn on the telecasting and see the changeless barrage of advertizements for the latest prescription drugs on the market. As a consequence, the pharmaceutical industry is doing one million millions of dollars off of people and is surely non traveling to kick, therefore encouraging and driving the epidemic even more. Furthermore, these drugs are comparatively easy to obtain and are socially acceptable by the huge bulk of the public compared to illegal drugs.

In merely the past several old ages, we have seen the outgrowth and proliferation of many “pain clinics” throughout the United States. Although non all are bad, some of these installations as stated by 8 ) ( Silverman & A ; Brown, MD, 2009 ) , “are frequently non-physician owned and run merely inside the jurisprudence. The doctors who pattern in these installations are seldom accredited through board enfranchisement processes, and many take no insurance and publicize confidential, hard currency merely services. Some even advertise armed guards in the waiting suites. With no inadvertence, these installations serve as a beginning for a uninterrupted supply of controlled substances to frequently times addicted and sometimes naAA?ve people. It is non uncommon to happen patients of these installations having 10s of 1000s of mgs of opioid medicines each month.”

With these types of plans and clinics runing and promoting such drug maltreatment, I feel that the people who truly necessitate these medicines are frequently the 1s who suffer, such as persons with painful terminal diseases and unwellnesss like malignant neoplastic disease. I experienced this first-hand with my mother several old ages ago when she was diagnosed with terminal lung malignant neoplastic disease that had metastasized to her castanetss, and impotently watched her suffer from hurting. While she was undergoing radiation interventions at a malignant neoplastic disease clinic, her physician at that place stated that she should utilize Advil to assist with her hurting and that the authorities was checking down on agenda drugs that were prescribed. My response to this is, if malignant neoplastic disease patients ca n’t acquire the necessary hurting medicines they urgently need, yet nuts can acquire all they want, so there is something really incorrect with this state we live in and our wellness attention system.

Decision.

What is of import to acknowledge and go cognizant of about prescription drug maltreatment is that it is much the same as other signifiers of illegal drug maltreatment such as cocaine or diacetylmorphine, and no 1 is immune. It can be merely as unsafe and lifelessly as other illicit drugs, and affects persons of all ages, races, gender, and socio-economic backgrounds. It can besides destruct households, occupations, and places every bit good as holding fatal wellness effects. In fact, usage of prescription drugs now causes more deceases than diacetylmorphine and cocaine combined, harmonizing to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.” 9 ) ( Treatment Solutions Network, 2009 ) .

Furthermore, with the recent tragic and ill-timed deceases of famous persons such as Michael Jackson, Anna Nicole Smith, and Heath Ledger related to prescription drug maltreatment, I feel this job is eventually being brought to the head and exposed, conveying a much needed consciousness to the dangers and effects of mistreating prescription drugs.

Mentions:

1 ) Pat Moore Foundation | Prescription Drug Abuse. ( n.d. ) . . Retrieved December 6, 2009, from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.patmoorefoundation.com/prescription-drug-abuse

2 M.D, Volkow, N. ( 2005 ) . NIDA – Research Report Series – Prescription Drugs: Maltreatment and Addiction. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.drugabuse.gov/ResearchReports/Prescription/Prescription.html

3 ) Prescription Drug Abuse Information | Drug Rehab Programs. ( 2009 ) . . Retrieved December 6, 2009, from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.prescription-drug-abuse.org/

4 ) Thibodeau, D. ( 2009, October 20 ) . Prescription drug maltreatment now tops illegal drug usage | GoDanRiver. Retrieved December 7, 2009, from hypertext transfer protocol: //www2.godanriver.com/gdr/news/local/danville_news/article/prescription_drug_abuse_now_tops_illegal_drug_use/14771/

5 ) Drug Addiction – Doctor Shopping – Chronic Pain Medication Addiction. ( 2009 ) . . Retrieved December 6, 2009, from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.drug-addiction.com/doctor_shopping.htm

6 ) Prescription Drug Abuse Chart – Drugs of Abuse and Related Topics – NIDA. ( 2009 ) . . Retrieved December 6, 2009, from hypertext transfer protocol: //www.nida.nih.gov/DrugPages/PrescripDrugsChart.html

7 ) Mayo Clinic. ( 2008 ) . Prescription drug maltreatment – MSN Health & A ; Fitness – Addiction|Quit Smoking. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from hypertext transfer protocol: //health.msn.com/health-topics/addiction/articlepage.aspx? cp-documentid=100211994

8 ) Silverman, MD, S. M. , & A ; Brown, MD, L. ( 2009 ) . Prescription Drug Abuse: In the US and Florida. Retrieved December 7, 2009, from

hypertext transfer protocol: //www.hgexperts.com/article.asp? id=6649

9 ) Treatment Solutions Network. ( 2009 ) . Prescription Drug Abuse and Addiction. Retrieved December 6, 2009, from

hypertext transfer protocol: //www.treatmentsolutionsnetwork.com/prescription-drug-abuse.html