Prescription Drug Abuse in Tallahassee – (850) 290-5955

It’s no wonder that prescription drug abuse is a big issue in America, where five percent of the world’s population manages to consume 75 percent of its prescription drugs. Despite ongoing attempts to reform and renew the national drug control policy, prescription drug abuse continues to be one of the leading public health and safety problems of the era.

Factors in Prescription Drug Abuse

Prescription drug abuse is as complex as is it widespread. Unfortunately, a lot of the abuse arises out of misconceptions about the safety and legality of using prescription medications over street drugs. Other leading factors include the lack of sufficient oversight to control inappropriate prescribing, the economic benefits of high prescription rates for pharmacological developers and distributors, and the ease of obtaining the drugs for the recreational user. That last factor is evidenced all too well by statistics collected by the National Institute on Drug Abuse which indicate that over 50 percent of teens who use prescription drugs do so because they can simply get them out of their parents’ medicine cabinets.

Commonly Abused Drug Types

Opioid drugs that contain the ingredients codeine, hydrocodone, and oxycodone are essentially pain relievers, prescribed to alleviate the discomfort associated with a variety of conditions that range from cancer to chronic back pain. Though the benefits of opioid use can be life-changing for some patients, the associated risks are both numerous and substantial, and among them are addiction, physical dependence, and overdose. To make matters worse, individuals who abuse opioids often administer them in unprescribed ways – such as injection or snorting – or mix their use with that of alcohol or other drugs in order to intensify their effect. What may seem like a good idea at the time can have terrible and even fatal results.

Unfortunately the availability and the abuse of opioids continue to increase in a correlated fashion. In the 14 year period leading up to 2013, deaths from opioid overdose nearly quadrupled. Furthermore, heroin-related deaths rose 39 percent from 2012 to 2013, which is significant in this context due to the fact that opioid abuse is known to frequently precipitate heroin addiction as well.

Psychiatric drugs that frequently can be called depressants, sedatives, antipsychotics, or hypnotics are also commonly abused. These are typically prescribed for psychiatric conditions or chemical imbalances including bipolar disorder, anxiety disorder, depression, insomnia, and many others. When used alone or with other drugs, many such medications can produce feelings of euphoria, setting the stage for abuse and addiction.

Stimulants are another class of commonly misused or abused medications. Stimulant drugs like Adderall, Ritalin, and Concerta treat attention deficit, hyperactivity disorder, and narcolepsy. Abuse of these drugs is especially common among college students, who put a premium on the drugs’ abilities to temporarily heighten alertness, energy, and focus while simultaneously promoting a sense of calm.

In Conclusion

The truth is that any medication can be misused or abused, and many can lead down the road to addiction. Understanding the dangers can be your best defense against prescription drug addiction and its effects. If you would like to find out more about this topic, or about how we at Drug Detox Center Tallahassee can help with prescription drug addiction, please feel free to contact us at (850) 290-5955.