Understanding the Risks of Prescription Drug Abuse
By NIDA Director Alan I. Leshner, Ph.D.
Prescription drugs can transform lives. For the millions of patients who take them, prescription drugs bring dramatic improvements in health and quality of life.
But when abused or misused, many of these medications can have effects that disrupt rather than improve lives.
Some prescription medications-particularly opioids, central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and stimulants-alter the brain’s activity, and misuse or abuse of these drugs can lead to compulsive drug seeking and use, the hallmark of addiction.
Data from the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reveal that an estimated 9 million Americans 12 years or older used prescription pain relievers, sedatives, or stimulants for non-medical reasons in 1999; more than one-fourth of them reported that they had used prescription drugs non-medically for the first time in the previous year.
The most dramatic increases in new non-medical use of prescription drugs that act on the brain were among 12- to 17- and 18- to 25-year-olds.
Elderly Americans-those 60 years and older-are three times more likely than the rest of the population to use prescription drugs. Research suggests that the elderly are less likely than younger patients to carefully follow instructions for taking medication, making them more vulnerable to the dangers of misuse of prescription drugs.
To help reverse these trends, NIDA is initiating several new projects.
Some of these efforts are directed toward improving our understanding of the basic mechanisms involved in the action and effects of prescription drugs, as well as interactions that may occur between different medications when they are taken together.
Other efforts seek to inform the general public and health care professionals of the risks of misuse of prescription drugs; a recent national survey revealed that 46.6 percent of primary care physicians find it difficult to discuss prescription drug abuse with patients for whom they prescribe the medications.
For some patients, misunderstanding the risks of prescription drugs or failing to closely follow a medication regimen is what leads to misuse and addiction.
http://www.prescription-drug-abuse.org