A multitude of news stories broke this week that draw further attention to the increasing threat of prescription drugs epidemic. Abuse of prescription drugs, like substance abuse in general, shows no discrimination in the target demographic.
First, on the heels of last week’s blog about teen star, Corey Haim, investigators into his death found that he was using nearly twenty different doctors for prescription drugs. In his apartment they found prescription drugs such as Valium, Vicodin, Soma, and Haloperidol. He also had prescriptions written for OxyContin. Investigators now believe him to be linked to a prescription drug ring in California.
A recent study involving senior citizens (65 years or older) found that most of them, nearly 67%, take five or more types of prescription drugs and 21% take ten or more types of prescription drugs. This puts them at risk not only for abuse of certain prescription drugs, but also increases their risk of adverse effects and fatal interactions between the various drugs. This is awareness is crucial during a time when many U.S. cities are seeing a 70-80% increase (since 2000) in accidental overdoses due to prescription drugs.
This week at a pharmaceutical warehouse in Connecticut, police witnessed the most audacious example of a growing phenomenon when thieves stole $75 million worth of prescription drugs for resale on the black market.
CNN reported this week that 1 in 5 teens in grades 9 – 12 admitted abuse of prescription medication, especially xanax.
A recent article in Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News reported that physicians who are coping with prescription painkiller abuse are often flying under the radar. “[Misuse and abuse of prescription medications] is increasing, actually rather dramatically, in the population as a whole,” said Marv Seppala, MD, himself a recovering addict who was among the first physicians in the country to be certified by the American Board of Addiction Medicine. “Abuse of prescribed medications, specifically opioids, is now second to marijuana in terms of abuse,” he said. “There is also a remarkable increase in cases involving health care professionals.”
And lastly, some of the more alarming news regarding abuse of prescription drugs was released this week by the Pentagon about the Army. As reported by USA Today, the military is trying to curb the amount of prescription drugs given to the troops when a study found that military doctors wrote almost 3.8 million prescriptions for pain relief for troops last year. This was more than four times the 866,773 doses given in 2001. Military officials and analysts see the increase in use of pain medication as a result of the continuing toll on ground troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the results released this year, one in four soldiers admitted abusing prescription drugs, mostly pain medication, in the 12 months prior to the Pentagon survey in 2008.
