Prescription Drug Abuse Leads to Street Drugs, University of Buffalo Physicians Warn
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The issue of prescription drug abuse has reached epic proportions, with abuse rates sharply on the increase in most segments of the American population. University of Buffalo physicians and researchers studied 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification and found that at least 31 of them had been addicted to painkillers. Heroin, morphine, codeine, methadone and fentanyl all fall into the category of opiods.
Prescription Drugs Abuse - Findings
In 51% of cases, the pharmaceutical drug was legitimately prescribed to the patient after illness or surgery, and 49% received the drug from a relative, friend or someone else’s medicine cabinet. The majority of patients studied had consumed the prescription drug orally rather than nasally or transdermally.
The studies will be used to train University of Buffalo’s medical students and practicing physicians on intervention and addiction screening in patients.
The wide availability of medications in high schools, colleges, and among friends and colleagues currently has federal health officials concerned. The DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) has announced a nation-wide first ever “Take Back Day” to combat prescription meds abuse. Take Back Day will be held on September 25, 2010.
Public initiatives to collect old and unused medications have varied from state to state, but “Take Back Day” involves continuously updated prescription disposal facilities to discard unused drugs in an environmentally sustainable manner.
Officials purport that the “Take Back” initiative will help combat prescription drug abuse by encouraging patients to discard drugs instead of selling or giving them away.
