Increase in the Prescription Medication Abuse - Research Paper Example

Running head: Prescription medication abuse Increase in the Prescription Medication Abuse in the Last 10 Years Prescription medication abuseis a common thing all over the world and United States is also not an exception. The stress levels of the current generation are more than the limits so that they are searching for something which can give at least a temporary relaxation. Advertisements through different Medias such as television, magazines, internet etc are triggering the thirst for prescription medication abuse among the stressed people. Teens and elderly people are equally culprit of abusing the prescription medications. Pharmaceutical companies are adopting all types of strategies to sell their products and they are not bothering about whether the sold medications are used for positive or negative purposes. This paper briefly analyses the prescription medication abuse with the help of all the independent variables mentioned above. Introduction “In the United States, physicians are faced with two opposing dilemmas in the treatment of pain – the potential for drug abuse and diversion, and the possible under treatment of pain. While controlled prescription drugs such as narcotic analgesics, anxiolytics, antidepressants, stimulants, and sedative-hypnotics, play a legitimate role in managing chronic pain and other conditions, the illicit use of prescribed medicines is increasing at epidemic proportions” (Manchikanti, MD, 2006, p.335). Prescription medication abuse is one of the largest segments of drug addiction in United States and it is second only to the marijuana abuse. It is difficult to collect the statistics of prescription medication abuse because of the difficulty in identifying whether the medication is used for curing the diseases or misused for getting some temporary psychological thrill or pleasure. The drug abusers often submit the prescriptions of the doctors to obtain medicines prescribed for some chronic diseases like psychoses. Most of the narcotic medicines are used for changing the moods of the psychologically disordered persons which may have side effects. The drug abusers often give false details to force the doctor to prescribe the narcotic medicines or pain killers which contain potentially harmful ingredients. “Cocaine (35 percent), marijuana (34%), and methamphetamine (17%) accounted for the substantial majority of Los Angeles-based illicit drug items analyzed and recorded by the National Forensic Laboratory Information System (NFLIS) for January–June 2008” (NIDA, 2009, p.49) Prescribed medication abuse ‘Misuse of a medicine can be referred as incorrect use of a medication by patients, who may use a drug for a purpose other than that for which it was prescribed, take too little or too much of a drug, take it too often, or take it for too long’ (Substance Abuse Treatment Advisory: News for the treatment field, 2006, p.1). In fact most of the medicines used to cure diseases may have some kind of side effects. These side effects will be accounted by the physicians and they will compare the advantage, a patient may get out of the medicine with the disadvantages the patient may face later before prescribing the medicine to the patient. People abuse some medicines because they have the false assumption that the medicines may help them to have more fun, loss of weight or to stay fit. Prescription drugs are easy to obtain from the pharmacy shop. Anyone who shows the prescription can purchase the medicine from the medical shops. Abusers often submit the fake prescriptions or prescriptions given for their relatives or friends to obtain medicines from the medical shops. Prescription drugs are only good for the prescribed persons to overcome their physical or mental diseases. Moreover, it should be taken in the prescribed doze as advised by the doctor. ‘The major abused drugs can be classified into three categories; Opioids - oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone (Vicodin), and meperidine (Demerol); Central Nervous System (CNS) Depressants - pentobarbital sodium (Nembutal), diazepam (Valium), and alprazolam (Xanax) and Stimulants - methylphenidate (Ritalin) and amphetamine/dextroamphetamine (Adderall) Opiods are used for treating pain, coughs and diarrhea whereas CNS depressants are used for treating anxiety, tension, panic attacks, and sleep disorders. Stimulants are used for narcolepsy and ADHD’ (Prescription drug abuse, 2009) All these medications have the ability to calm down the brain activities and hence the patient may get little bit of comfort. (Manchikanti, MD, 2006, p.291) The graph given above shows the steep increase in the number of prescription drug abusers irrespective of the age differences. Prescription drug abuses are increasing because of the increased advertisements, different perceptions of the age groups about life, the push by the pharmaceutical companies, and the increased stress levels of the current generation. Relation between Advertisements and prescribed medication abuse The television, internet, and magazine like media are filled with the advertisements of variety of medications, which offer great advantages to the public, to relieve their pain and pressures. Most of these ads were misdirecting and the people in their quest for remedies often fell in traps made by the drug manufactures. “Legitimate online pharmacies operate like drugstores where drugs are dispensed with a valid prescription. But many on-line pharmacies do not obey the laws. An estimated 200 million people in the U.S. use the Internet, and these users are disproportionately young” (Addiction messenger, 2009, p.2) Relation between Age Groups and prescribed medication abuse (Manchikanti, MD, 2006, p.289) It is evident from the above graph that the persons above the age 18 abuse the prescribed drugs more than the persons below the age of 18 years. The graph given below shows the increase in OxyContin users over the years. (Manchikanti, MD, 2006, p.292) The statistics given at the left shows that the people between the age group of 18 – 25 are abusing the drugs like marijuana more than any other age groups while persons of the age group 26 – 34 coming at the second place. The people above the age of 35 are relatively less abusing the same drug. When we consider the above fact sheet we can conclude that the people over 35 years of age are matured than the others mentioned in the list which help them to avoid the trap of drug abuse. On the other hand, youths because of their over enthusiasm, risk taking attitudes, and lack of awareness more vulnerable.  (Drug Use Trends, 2002) Relation between Push by pharmaceutical companies and prescribed medication abuse Pharmaceutical companies use every attempt to sell their products. They are not much concerned with the health of the public. They will never even verify the prescriptions. “Big Pharma spends millions on commercial email, online marketing, and print. They will spend $1 billion in 2008 on direct marketing to make a return of $10 billion” (Pharmaceutical Drug Companies Killing Middle America Legally while Robbing You Blind, 2009). Unlike other product manufacturers, it is not necessary for the pharmaceutical companies to spend much for the marketing activities if they limit their activities among patients alone. Nobody wants to finish their life if the medicine is available to extend their life. In other words, medicines will be sold out automatically unlike other products because of the importance and value of life compared to all the other things in the world. Pharmaceutical companies know the above fact. But they want to make normal people also the drug users in order to double their profits and hence they will spend billions for the advertisements. Relation between Increased stress levels of the current generation and prescribed medication abuse The fourth variable associated with prescription drug abuse is the increased stress levels of the current generation. The commitments of the old people were limited to their family alone earlier. On the other hand, the current generation has lot of commitments to their family, society and to their profession which is more than enough for them to bear. It is difficult for them to fulfill all their commitments which increase their stress level. They will utilize shortcuts to overcome their stress levels and drug abuse is one such shortcut. There are other psychological reasons also for the drug abuse. ‘Chronic pain may complicate substance abuse treatment by; Motivating drug-seeking behavior; Decreasing clients’ quality of life, which may increase, their attraction to any drug that produces euphoria; Creating psychiatric problems, such as depression and anxiety etc’.(Substance Abuse Treatment Advisory: News for the treatment field, 2006, p.2) Conclusions Prescription drug abuse is increasing ever since the people realize the temporary advantages it provides to them. People of the age group 26 to 35 are misusing the drugs more than others. Opioids, Central Nervous System (CNS) Depressants and Stimulants are the major prescription drugs abused by people. Increased spending on advertisements by the pharmaceutical companies, increased stress levels, difference is perceptions about the life by different age groups etc are some of the reasons for the prescription drug abuse. References 1. Addiction messenger, (2009), SERIES 33 - January 2009 Volume 12, Issue 1, Retrieved 28 October 2009 from http://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:5QYpvlCzKmcJ:www.attcnetwork.org/userfiles/file/Vol.%252012,%2520Issue%25201.pdf+Advertisements+and+prescribed+medication+abuse&hl=en&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESijGJhfdYM9X5qjehyW-33v3TzDqjbwrxEi-qRrxpT3bmtBf77ZwMrP9KsSMwR2eNrf690YzhWrJtL-5U4s0v8UW5MohjFF4PBt4J2oZ1gJ38UpBKvl5ZdzIIlck5FZ3H6UvngV&sig=AFQjCNFFDc-Ke3ajCLjdG4zEcp7V850-LA 2. Drug Use Trends, (2002), Retrieved 28 October 2009 from http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/factsht/druguse/ 3. Manchikanti Laxmaiah, MD, (2006), Prescription drug abuse epidemic, Pain Physician. 9287- 321, ISSN 1533-3159 4. NIDA,(2009), EPIDEMIOLOGIC TRENDSIN DRUG ABUSE, Proceedings of the Community Epidemiology Work Group, January 2009 National Institute on Drug Abuse NIH Publication No. 09-7420 Printed – July 2009 5. Pharmaceutical Drug Companies Killing Middle America Legally while Robbing You Blind, (2009) Retrieved 28 October 2009 from http://www.betterbodyjournal.com/health/pharmaceutical-drug-companies-killing-middle-america-legally-while-robbing-you-blind 6. Psychiatric Times, (2005), NIDA Responds to Escalating Prescription Drug Abuse, July 1 2005 Vol. XXII Issue 8 7. Prescription drug abuse,(2009), Retrieved 28 October 2009 from http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/drugs/prescription_drug_abuse.html 8. Substance Abuse Treatment Advisory: News for the treatment field, (2006), May 2006, Volume 5, Issue 2, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Substance Abuse Treatment Read More