Posts Tagged dangers of prescription drugs

Prescription Drug Abuse: Real and Alarming Threat

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction on March 29th, 2011

Approximately 16 million Americans, aged 12 years old and above, have taken prescription drugs in 2009 ranging from pain relievers, tranquilizers, sedatives, or stimulants which were all for non-medical purposes. This is the alarming truth that was released by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (Substance abuse and Mental Health Administration) which shows that prescription medications can indeed be abused or has the potential to be abused.

prescription drugsWhy these prescription drugs are abused is often a result of misuse or non-compliance of instructions in the use of specific medications. The most vulnerable people, according to the report, are the elderly and teens. The elderly group registers the lowest rate of compliance on instructions given for their prescribed medications while teens can easily become hooked on painkillers like hydrocodone and oxycodone.

When these drugs are misused or abused, it could start an addiction. Being addicted to prescription drugs is no different to the addiction on illegal drugs. Both are dangerous and could be fatal for users, and could lead to withdrawal symptoms if nothing is done to correct it. The same medications or behavioral and psychological therapies apply to addicts who want to be free from their cravings or habits.

People should be careful then in handling prescribed medications. Changing of dosages or sharing of medicines with others promotes prescription drug abuse and addiction. It is recommended to see a doctor when symptoms persist despite being prescribed with medicines and to never offer these drugs to other people.

There are many types of prescription drugs that can be or are being abused, including painkillers, stimulants, depressants, barbiturates, and dextromethorphan.

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Collection Sites for National Take Back Day

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on September 25th, 2010

More than 3,400 collection sites have been set up in the nationwide effort to take back expired, unwanted and unused prescription drugs, led by the Drug Enforcement Administration. Dubbed as “National Take Back Day,” the goal of the effort is to prevent an increase in prescription drug abuse, as mentioned in several of our previous posts. We would like to share the locations of some of these collection sites, for the benefit of those who are interested in participating in this effort. More locations are available at the DEA website; you can conveniently key in your zip code, city and state to find the most convenient collection site nearest to you.

prescription drugsHere are some sites in California:

•    Albertsons Shopping Center Alpine, 2955 Alpine Blvd., Alpine, CA, 91901
•    Food 4 Less Shopping Center, 109 W. Birch, Calexico, CA, 92231
•    Granite Bay High School, #1 Grizzly Way, Granite Bay, CA, 95746
•    City of Long Beach Health Department, 2525 Grand Ave., Long Beach, CA, 90815
•    Starbucks Coffee Shop, Prunetree Shopping Center, 17543 Vierra Canyon Road, Salinas, CA, 93907
•    University of California, San Diego, Parking Lot 705, Intersection of Genesee & Campus Point Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093
•    Laguna Beach Unified School District, Across from Laguna Beach High School, 550 Blumont Street, Laguna Beach, CA, 92651

The DEA assures everyone that the service is absolutely free and anonymous; no questions will be asked. National Take Back Day collection sites will be open from 10 am through 2 pm local time on Saturday, September 25.

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Keeping Teens from Prescription Drug Abuse

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on September 23rd, 2010

With September 25 – National Prescription Drug Take Back Day – just a couple of days away, the country will be focused on keeping prescription drugs inaccessible to teens. The DEA’s document, Prescription for Disaster, gives a few things that parents can do, other than cleaning out medicine cabinets on take back day.

prescription drugsParents are encouraged to keep themselves informed, by learning about the prescription drugs that teenagers abuse. Parents ought to learn what these medicines are for, what they look like, what their effects and interactions are, and how teenagers are using these drugs. It is also important to understand the power and danger of these medicines.

Once parents are armed with enough information, they are encouraged to talk to their children about the things that they are experiencing in school and when they are spending time with their friends, and share what they have learned regarding the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

Since prescription drugs are basically in the market to help people and can legitimately wind up in your home, it is a good idea to talk to your doctor or pharmacist about the medicines that have been prescribed to you. What are their side effects? Are they potentially addictive? If, for any reason, you are prescribed with powerful medication, it is a good idea to keep them in a safe place that cannot be accessed by everyone in the house. You should also count your pills when you receive them at the pharmacy, and check the container periodically to see if there are any pills missing.

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Teen Drug Abuse: Street Drugs versus Prescription Drugs

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse, Raising Healthy Kids on August 4th, 2010

In a previous post, we shared a helpful document regarding prescription drug abuse in teenagers provided by the Drug Enforcement Administration. A portion of that document discusses the difference – and similarities – between street drugs and prescription drugs, and why teenagers may be drawn to the latter.

prescription drug abuse“Street drugs” is the sweeping term that is used to refer to abused substances that are categorized as illegal. This includes, among others, cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, and marijuana.

Prescription drugs are legal medicines prescribed to treat certain illnesses. According to Prescription for Disaster, most teenagers view the recreational use of prescription drugs as “safer” compared to street drugs. For one, prescription drugs are medicines, and can be obtained from doctors, pharmacies, friends and family members; there is no need to go to shady dealers in dimly-lit street corners.

There is also a way to find out the effects of prescription drugs; package inserts, advertisements and the Internet are able to provide this information.

This, of course, is a fallacy that needs to be corrected. While prescription drugs may have important medical applications, indiscriminate use and abuse is just as dangerous – and as illegal – as using street drugs.

Dr. Nida Volkow, the director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), described such an instance at a testimony before the House Government Reform Committee in 2006. Describing the effect of the prescription drug Ritalin, Dr. Volkow shares that the drug has a lot in common with cocaine. When taken orally as prescribed, and under the supervision of, a physician, it results in a gradual increase in the brain chemical dopamine. When taken intravenously, however, the increase of dopamine is rapid, which is the same as cocaine taken intravenously.

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Dangers of Abusing Depressants and Stimulants

Posted by Drug Free in Drug Addiction, Prescription Drug Abuse on December 30th, 2009

It may come as a surprise to some, but the truth is that you don’t really need to go very far to find addicting drugs. Some believe that the dangerous drugs are only available in the streets, and that you can’t find them anywhere else. On the contrary, even the most common of drugs in the market can be dangerous if taken non-medically and in unreasonably large doses.

prescription drug abuseSo, what are the most commonly abused prescription drugs? Depressants, which include the very common cough syrup and painkillers, are highly abused prescription drugs. Abusers often take these because they like the sense of being numb, of being unable to feel any kind of pain or anxiety. This artificial state of induced calm can be dangerous in the long-term, especially in the case of central nervous system depressants, which can permanently alter a person’s mental state adversely.

Stimulants are also highly abused prescription drugs. Most prescription drugs of this type are often used to treat ADHD and narcolepsy, since these are the type of drugs that give you an artificial sense of being energetic and high, but abusers often take them as “performance enhancers”. Stimulants can be extremely dangerous as they can cause a person to behave more aggressively toward his peers and colleagues, and the euphoria that the drugs seem to bring also alter a person’s rational thinking.

Although prescription drugs are available legally and can be bought from your local pharmacy, using them for reasons other than what has been prescribed by doctors can be dangerous and even deadly.

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Buying Prescription Drugs Without Prescription

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on December 2nd, 2009

The Internet is such a complex entity. For one, its existence has afforded us great convenience in so many ways that it becomes almost impossible to enumerate them all. On the other hand, the Internet has also opened the gates for several dangerous possibilities. One of these would be the abuse of prescription drugs.

prescriptionAlthough “doctor shopping” has been a recent concern, with drug dealers and abusers hopping from one doctor to another to get hold of as many prescriptions – thus, prescription drugs – as possible, dispensing certain drugs only when one has a prescription is still our best strategy to fight prescription drug abuse. With the proliferation of online pharmacies, however, many of which do not require a prescription, the battle becomes much more daunting.

What’s even more bothering is that several online pharmacies not only sell prescription drugs without a medical prescription, but they also heavily advertise that they do. A simple search in Google or Yahoo will give you the links to pharmacies that invite you to “buy cheap prescription drugs with no prescription”. This means that it is actually very easy to get access to these drug stores.

The wisdom of having to get a prescription before buying medicines lies heavily on the fact that we need to have ourselves checked by a health care professional first before we take anything in. Our doctors would know if the drug is safe for us or if another treatment is more appropriate.

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