Thursday, September 23, 2010

Blog # 2--Prescription Drug Abuse

September 23, 2010







      “Social disapproval of street drugs has grown, and the risks of such drug use has been

publicized more effectively, abuse of street drugs has slowly, but surely declined.” (Garrett) What

has increased is the abuse of prescription drugs. From a young age children are introduced to

prescription drugs and learn that medicine is a way for them to get well when they are sick or hurt.

They do not perceive medicine or prescription drugs to be something negative. As children get

older and start to experiment they realize that using prescription drugs recreationally can give them

a high that is similar to, or sometimes even better than street drugs. The abuse of prescription pain

relievers is a growing problem. A study conducted by the University of Michigan in 2005 found that

10% of high school seniors have used Vicodin and 5.5% said they used OxyContin. This may

seem like a small percentage but that was five years ago and that number is growing steadily.

SAMHSA reports that there has been a 152% increase in emergency room visits in the U.S.

related to OxyContin abuse. Figure 1 represents trends in Emergency Department (ED) visits

involving the nonmedical use of narcotic pain relievers from: 2004 to 2008. Figure 2 represents

visits involving the nonmedical use of narcotic pain relievers by gender and age group: 2004-2008.

Figure 3 breaks down the visits based on drug type.
Figure 1

Figure 2
Figure 3


      It has been determined that Vicodin and OxyContin are the most commonly abused

prescription medicine “with nearly 1 in 5 teens having abused the medicines.” (Garrett) Vicodin

and Oxycotin are both used to treat pain and can be extremely habit-forming if not taken with

caution. The directions on the prescription label for OxyContin strictly say not to consume

alcohol when taking OxyContin as it can result in death. According to USA today this drug has

become extremely popular at parties and what party is complete without alcohol. Teenagers may

not realize that it is deadly for them to mix alcohol with this drug and when they are offered this at

a party, they don’t think twice. That is how a San Ramon High School Student, Joey Rovero,

died in his dorm room at Arizona State University. He mixed OxyContin with alcohol and it halted

his breathing. He received his drugs through a prescription and sold half of them to his

roommate, who also had an addiction to OxyContin. His drug abuse did not only hurt him, but

affected his family and friends that lost a loved one. 



 

http://www.oas.samhsa.gov/2k10/DAWN016/OpioidED.htm 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2006-06-12-teens-pharm-drugs_x.htm  

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/20/national/20teen.html

Garret, Rose. “Prescription Drug Abuse: A Growing Problem Among Adolescents.” Education—Bringing Learning to Life. Education.com. http://www.education.com/magazine/article/Prescription

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