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Prescription Drug Addiction Essay

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With the given statistics continuing to grow, “by 2050, antibiotic resistant infections will claim ten million lives at a cost of $20 trillion, far outstripping the number of lives and costs claimed by cancer in the same time period” (Tenover ❡9). Antibiotics and prescription medication are world-renowned for the benefits they can provide, from curing horrible diseases to treating sickness in everyday life. However, abuse of these same medications has crossed the line and can cause as much, if not more, damage than good. The impulsive prescription of antibiotics as a first, or “go to” answer for patient needs is endangering the human body by creating antibiotic resistant bacteria. Medical doctors have patients knocking at their doors demanding …show more content…

Creator of the website Underground Health, Chris Sumbs, stated how with prescription drugs, it is easy to keep taking them because of what doctors do for their patients (❡5). The rates are going to continue to grow, and so will the rates of addiction. Leading to the probability of illness in many people, with the harshest effects being unknown. Toronto specialist in geriatric medicine Heather Mallick presented that doctors have noticed how their elderly patients, mostly women, are taking around 8.9 drugs per day with 5.7 of those being prescription (❡3). “The problem of drug overuse is so severe that doctors often can not tell whether a disoriented patient is senile or merely suffering from the side effects of prescribed drugs” (Mallick ❡2). It is one drug leading to another, and then the harming effects continue to add up. When it comes to medication, it is easier for doctors to prescribe medicine to help side effects rather than figuring out what the real problem is (Mallick ❡5). The overuse will continue to grow with this attitude. There is only so much time before the toxicity of medication build up skyrockets. Many prescription drugs available to people can be available for multiple years before the realization of the dangers come out (Sumbs ❡2). With that, people will be taking these prescriptions, thinking it is all good being, when in reality it can hurt more than help. “Studies have shown that 15 per cent--- of hospital admissions of the elderly result from drug toxicity” (Mallick

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