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Why Do People Abuse Prescription Drugs

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It is estimated that seven million Americans abuse prescription drugs (Rees at el. 2014). These prescription drugs range from anti-depressants to pain killers and give each person a different reaction. The concern about prescription drug use is not new knowledge. Many users become addicted to these drugs and could overdose because of it. In the United States, more people die because of opioid painkillers than the number of deaths from heroin and cocaine combined (Ress at el. 2014). Though opioids are popular in the drug world, there are hundreds of other prescription drugs that people abuse. These drugs are easily purchased and consumed on a daily basis. The easiest and most common way is purchasing the drugs on the street. The drug epidemic …show more content…

This is not always the case when it comes to dealing drugs. Drugs are mainly within the cities or slums surrounding it, but drug dealing also involves middle and upper class as well. It takes money to make money in the drug world and many who have the money use people who are willing to get caught to make the money. Marijuana and prescription drugs are the most commonly used drugs on the streets. Unfortunately, all ages are involved in the purchasing and consumption of illegal drugs. “In recent years, Monitoring the Future, the NIDA-funded annual survey of drug, alcohol, and tobacco use in 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students, has shown persistently high rates of marijuana and nonmedical prescription drug use in our Nation’s teens” (Most …show more content…

Many people, like Brett Stashak, have gotten addicted to these drugs after a few uses (Stashak 2014). Users like Brett experience a short-lived happiness when ingesting a painkiller such as hydrocodone or Oxycodone. These prescribed medicines are highly addictive and can cause serious health issue if the addiction is not treated. The long-term use of painkillers can lead your body through physical and mental health issues depending on the drug, like any addiction (“Painkiller Addiction”). “I started off by taking them by mouth and after about three years I began to snort them,” said Stashak. Though Stashak may not have grown up in a socially disorganized home, the drug dealers that sell to him may have. The dealers are not only hurting the buyer, they are also hurting themselves and the rest of society. Drugs can easily destroy someone’s normal life, whether they grew up in a good neighborhood or not. They can and will affect anyone who choses to abuse them and that is a clear indication that drugs are a major issue in today’s

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The number of ER visits due to oxycodone pills, including Percocet, increased by over one fifty percent between 2004 and 2008. It is also estimated that about ten percent of the patients who are currently prescribed with Percocet for pain relief will continue to stick on to the drug leading to its addiction and abuse. Another unsettling fact about the Percocet abuse is that the adolescents use Percocet for recreational purposes and end up getting addicted to the drug over time. Even if they try to quit they will experience obsessive and compulsive thoughts about the drug.

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Within the same period, the data show, 81 percent of first-time heroin users had previously abused prescription drugs” (Markon and Crites, 2014). Prescription painkillers and heroin are known to

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Recent reforms can curb the opioid epidemic. Yes, health care professionals have realized the complex problem and they now understand the problem and what needs to be done. According to CQ Researcher, “Experts see some progress in the fight against opioid painkiller abuse. After peaking in 2012, the number of prescriptions written for opioids declined 12 percent between 2013 and 2015, according to IMS Health, a market research company. Symphony Health Solutions, a data company that studies the pharmaceutical industry, found an 18 percent drop in that period.”

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Underlying Causes: The increase in the sale of opioids is considered to be the root of the opioid crisis, as the drugs have been proven to be highly addictive. An addiction to prescriptive opioids, however, can lead to an addiction to synthetic, illegal opioids, such as heroine or fentanyl, which are less expensive and easier to acquire. In fact, in their journal article, “Associations of nonmedical pain reliever use and initiation of heroin use in the United States” Pradip Muhuri and associates discovered that “the recent (12 months preceding interview) heroin incidence rate was 19 times higher among those who reported prior nonmedical prescription pain reliever (NMPR) use than among those who did not (0.39 vs. 0.02 percent)” (Muhuri et. al). In other words, abusing prescription opioids significantly raises the chances of abusing illicit drugs, such as heroin.

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“ Because they produce euphoria in addition to pain relief, they can be misused. Regular use- even as prescribed by a doctor can lead to dependence ,and when misused, opioid pain relievers can lead to overdose incidents and deaths” (Drugabuse.gov/opioids) Prescribing opioids have more dangers to the human than they do

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Opioids are a prescription medication involving various forms of drugs, it can benefit patients as little as a few minutes, however, it can be extremely dangerous to patients without self-control. Morphine, heroin, oxycodone, and fentanyl are used for many different medical uses until companies started to combine these four ingredients into one small simple pill. The pill reduces chronic pain from a body in a matter of minutes taking a minimum dosage. The company that produces Opioids have discovered that for the most part opioids are healthier and safer than any other medications. Like other medications, opioids can also have its side effects too such as; sedation restlessness, respiratory depression, nausea, vomiting, constipation and much more.

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Pharmaceutical drug overdoses were recorded as one of the leading causes of death in the United States, killing more Americans than firearms or motor vehicle accidents (Prescription Drug Abuse Statistics, 2013). Many patients are being prescribed these medications after surgery or after suffering an injury that may not require surgery and through overuse, causing these patients to become addicted. Although many feel that doctors are still overprescribing narcotics, this epidemic of prescription drug abuse has been brought to the forefront of national consciousness causing many prevention strategies of abuse to be put in place, strategies that were not presented in the past. The hope for these strategies is to curb the amount of unnecessary prescriptions being prescribed. Some of these strategies include educating and training physicians and doctors in the diagnosis and treatment of addictive diseases, specifically the abuse and misuse of controlled prescription drugs, as well as the implementation of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP),

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Across the world abusing prescription drugs causes more deaths than street drugs do combined (“International Statistics”). Prescription drugs are so easy to get ahold of and so easy to get addicted to. The misuse of prescription drugs have gotten out of hand. These drugs can cause unintentional overdoses easily. The misuse of prescription drugs can lead to addiction, affect the health of users in a dramatic way, and even cause death.

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For example, one time in high school, I witness this kid put 5 white rectangular pills in his mouth, from my point of view I thought that was excessive. The next thing we know this kid is just acting totally different, but somehow he manages to keep a low profile and the teachers don’t notice. Prescription drug abuse is on the rise as we have seen on the news if you don’t live under a rock. Teens and adults have managed to get their hands on these prescriptions. People abuse prescription drugs because they think they will have a better time

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These pills, such as xanax and oxycodone allow people for short periods of time to withdraw from the harsh reality faced today. “Between 1997 and 2002, sales of oxycodone and methadone nearly quadrupled” (Okie). Around 15 years later and the prescription pill problem is continuing to skyrocket. Since prescription pills are dispersed out to anyone by doctors, many people do not realize that it is as much of an illicit drug as cocaine and heroin is. “Misinformation about the addictive properties of prescription opioids and the perception that prescription drugs are less harmful than illicit drugs are other possible contributors to the problem” (NIDA).

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