Abuse Of Prescription Drugs Is More Common Than Abuse Of Other Drugs

According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, prescription drugs are abused more frequently compared to the combined abuse of cocaine, heroin and ecstasy. Around 6 million Americans are believed to be addicted to prescription opioids while another 50 million Americans admit that they have tried prescription painkillers for non-medical use at least once in their life.

Valium and Xanax are the commonly abused central nervous system depressants while Adderall and Ritalin are the commonly abused stimulants of the central nervous system.

Doctors admit that most of these addictions start with a safe prescription. Patients are advised the medicine to get relief from their condition but soon they get hooked to it. For example, a patient may be prescribed an opioid analgesic to combat pain. He is supposed to take it once a day. However, if the pain is not relieved with that, the patient may increase the frequency or dosage on his own. Gradually, the patient gets addicted to the medicine and cannot live without it.

Few physicians advise that if your pain does not get resolved within two weeks of starting a painkiller, you should consult another doctor rather than continuing with the same medicine in increased dose or increased frequency. This minimizes your chances of getting addicted to the painkiller.

There are people who get addicted to prescription drugs while using a legitimate prescription, and then there are other set of people who abuse the prescription drugs deliberately to get a high. This group generally consists of teenagers and young adults, though old age is no bar for abusing drugs. Prescription drugs are abused for these common reasons:

• The person wants to get a high
• The person wants relief from stress and tension.
• The person wants to reduce his appetite in order to lose weight,
• The person wants to be accepted by his peers.
• The person wants to experiment.
• He feels that taking prescription drugs is legal as compared to buying drugs from a peddler.
• He feels that prescription drugs are safer and would cause less harm compared to drugs supplied by dealers.

Considering the enormity of the problem, it is very important to sensitize the doctors about it. 

See Also: The Dangers Of Prescription Drugs

However, it is very important to know your patient and understand his psyche before writing the prescription. It is said that the doctors understand their patient the best. They should use this judgment before prescribing a medicine. It is also important to know about the symptoms of drug addiction and identify an addict once a doctor comes across him. If he finds that his patient has become addicted to a medicine, it is the duty of the doctor to counsel him and guide him to a de-addiction center.