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Persuasive Essay On Prescription Drug Abuse

801 Words4 Pages

Prescription for Death People go to the doctor’s office from time to time, whether it is just a regular checkup or for a certain health condition. This is normal for most of the population in the United States, but have people ever thought that the very one’s who are here to help with general health, are also, indirectly, slowly killing the citizens of the country? The Doctors are not necessarily the ones to blame, but the pharmaceutical industry and the prescription drugs that are distributed are. While prescription drugs can sometimes be helpful, some prescription drugs are dangerous because not all information from studies is released, pharmaceutical companies are taking over the health industry, and prescription drug abuse is a major issue.
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Whether that be taking a medicine prescribed for someone else, taking a larger dose than what is needed, taking the medicine in other ways like snorting crushed pills or injecting medication, and lastly, using the medicine for the purpose of getting high. (Prescription Drug Abuse). Most prescription drugs are abused by, but not limited to, young adults (Ages 18 to 25). For example more than 1,700 young adults died from prescription drug overdoses in 2014. That is more than overdoses of any other drug, including heroin and cocaine combined.(National Institute on Drug Abuse). A huge majority of prescription drugs that are abused are opioids, which are substances that act on opioid receptors to produce morphine-like effects and are mainly used to relieve moderate to severe pain. When abused, opioids build up a tolerance, which means it takes a larger dose with each time taken to achieve the same effect. At this point, either an overdose on the medication occurs, with can be fatal; or leads to the abuse of stronger opioids, such as heroin, which claims many lives each year do to

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