The Dangers of Prescription Pill

A new escalating drug abuse epidemic has come about in the recent years; people are now choosing prescription pills as their new drug of choice. The use, abuse and death caused by prescription drugs has increased significantly within the past couple years. All types of prescription pills are more easily accessible from their doctors, family members or off the street. Doctors are handing out prescriptions for pills, such as pain management pills, muscle relaxers, and anti-anxiety, like they are candy and not potentially dangerous to the consumers. In today’s society doctors are over prescribing pills to Americans and the prescription pill distribution should be more closely monitored and controlled. Although there are people who benefit from the pain pills, such as patients who are terminally ill, there are too many taking advantage and abusing prescription pills.

Opioid analgesic painkillers, one of the largest growing segments of prescription drug abuse, are medications such as Oxycontin and Vicodin and many other narcotic pills. The side effects Vicodin include lightheadedness, sedation, dizziness, mental clouding, anxiety, fear, dependence, mood changes, respiratory depression and many more (Spratto and Woods 809). More than 201 million prescriptions were written in 2007 for products that have a potential for abuse according to Verispan, prescription information database (Hansen). It was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that found 96.6 percent increase in prescription pill for pain relief-related deaths from 1997 to 2002. During the same period, deaths from cocaine overdoses increased 12.9 percent (Hansen). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that the numbers of new, non medical users of pres...

... middle of paper ...

...amount of pill prescriptions to hopefully bring down the number of fatalities and prescription pill abuse possibilities in patients.

Works Cited

Eckles, Crimson. Personal Experience. March 2004- May 2007.

Hanson, Karmen. “A Pill Problem: Rx Abuse is Fastest Growing.” National Conference of State Legislatures. March 2010. Web. 2 June 2011. .

Inciardi, PhD, James A. “OPIOIDS, SUBSTANCE ABUSE & ADDICTIONS SECTION.” Pain

Medicine. Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies. 2009. Web. 2 June 2011.

Johnson, Jimmy. Personal Interview. 11 June 2011.

Rodriguez, Joe. Personal Interview. 12 June 2011.

Spratto, George R., and Adrienne L. Woods. 20th Anniversary Edition 2011 Delmar Nurse’s Drug

Handbook. Clinton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.