Americans have changed their drug habits for the better in recent years.
U.S. adults are smoking less than ever before, and teenagers are drinking less alcohol than they ever have or at least, since the government became concerned enough about teen drinking to start collecting data on the subject.
But even with those encouraging
changes, a new vice has emerged that could present an even bigger danger
to its users: prescription drugs.
An estimated 2.4 million Americans
used prescription drugs nonmedically for the first time in 2010,
according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH). And
most abusers start the habit in their teenage years.
Deaths from prescription drugs
nearly tripled from 2000 to 2013, when nearly 23,000 Americans lost
their lives due to prescription drug abuse.
The term "prescription drug"
covers a wide array of substances, from tranquilizers to stimulants such
as Adderall and painkillers like oxycodone. The key word here, of
course, is "prescription."
All these drugs should be obtained via
permission from a doctor who decides if their patient would benefit from
taking this substance at a recommended frequency for a set length of
time.
But most of the time,
prescription drug abusers aren't feeding their addiction with a
prescription slip. Instead, more than 70 percent of them get the pills
from a friend or relative, according to the National Institutes of
Health. And most of the time, they're securing these drugs for free. CONTINUE READING
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