When Kate Sweeney worked in a medical clinic, she would occasionally have a pharmacists refuse to fill a prescription out of concern that the patient was abusing his medication. Today, several years later, the problem of prescription drug abuse has gotten worse.

Sweeney wrote about rising rates of prescription drug abuse in the Nov. 11 edition of the Lake County (Calif.) Record-Bee:

Prescription drug abuse is not a small problem in the United States. Not only do adults abuse controlled substances, but so do middle school and high school students.

"In 2008, 15.2 million Americans age 12 and older had taken a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant, or sedative for nonmedical purposes at least once in the year prior to being surveyed," according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse-funded 2008 Monitoring the Future Study showed that 2.9 percent of eighth-graders, 6.7 percent of 10th-graders, and 9.7 percent of 12th-graders had abused Vicodin and 2.1 percent of eighth-graders, 3.6 percent of 10th-graders, and 4.7 percent of 12th-graders had abused OxyContin for nonmedical purposes at least once in the year prior to being surveyed.

Labels: prescription drugs, drug_abuse

Posted By: Aspen/CRC