Last updated : December 16, 2024
Over the last few years, prescription drug abuse has become a serious problem throughout the United States. Alarmingly, 52 Million people age 12 and older have used prescription drugs non-medically in their lifetime. In 2010, there were a reported 8.76 million prescription drug abusers.
The most commonly abused type of prescription drug is painkillers. Prescription drugs such as Oxycontin, Percodan, Percocet, Lortab, Vicodin, and Oxycodone are typically prescribed to people who suffer from chronic pain.
The second most abused class of prescription drugs are tranquilizers. These types of drugs are typically prescribed to people who are having difficulties sleeping or have troubles with anxiety. Tranquilizers that are commonly misused include Valium, Xanax, and Klonopin.
The third most abused class of prescription drugs are Stimulants. In many cases, these types of drugs are prescribed as a treatment for Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Prescription drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin fall under this category.
Abuse or misuse?
One thing that every person should be aware of is just how powerful are these pharmaceutical grade drugs. Even someone with the best intention can find themselves addicted to them. Drug misuse happens whenever someone who has a valid prescription takes the drug in a way other than the prescription states.
For instance, the prescription says “Take 1 tablet every 8 hours, not to exceed 3 tablets every 24 hours,” but because you are feeling more pain than usual, you double the dosage in the hopes that it will help make the pain go away faster. It can be common among both valid prescription holders and people who do not have a prescription to take these drugs for a medical reason that they have been properly diagnosed.
Drug misuse also happens when someone who doesn’t hold a valid prescription for a medication obtains any portion of the prescribed amount. Stealing it or simply receiving it from a friend or relative is no different. Other types of prescription drug misuse are visiting multiple doctors for the sole purpose of being prescribed powerful drugs, buying prescriptions off of the Internet, or purchasing them from street-level dealers.
Who is most vulnerable?
According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the abuse of prescription drugs is highest among young adults age 18 – 25. Reasons that teens and youth cited for misusing and abusing prescription medications vary. Kids told researchers that there was great ease in acquiring them, they consider using legal medication illegally to be okay, they can get them for cheap or for free, they consider them safer to use than federally banned substances, there is less shame associated with getting caught using them and their parents don’t care as much if they get caught.
Youths that abuse prescription drugs are also likely to participate in other unhealthy and risky behaviors such as cigarette smoking, heavy binge drinking and taking other drugs such as cocaine. The social attitudes and trends seem to be as big or bigger a factor than the physical dependence that accompanies some of the stronger and more dangerously addictive medications, such as opioids. While men continue to be the largest demographic affected, a rise in the middle class and women concerns the Center for Disease Control and Prevention enough to consider this type of abuse to be an epidemic.
The trend for prescription drug abuse does not appear to being slowing down. In the case of children, some are being indoctrinated into taking prescriptions early in life to treat conditions like Attention Deficit Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Middle class women may imagine that nothing is wrong with hoarding pills from old injuries they or a loved one suffer for “a rainy day.” Though the national focus tends to be on substances considered “party drugs”, prescription drug abuse continues to grow as a concern for many generations, perhaps aided by that very mistaken perception that misuse and abuse of medication is “no big deal.” All these and more are certainly factors that make prescription drug abuse one of the most common and deadly in America.
