Abused prescription drugs

Table 10.2 Commonly Abused Prescription Drugs Containing Opium...

Adapted from National Institute on Drug Abuse. Information on Drugs of Abuse— Prescription Drug Abuse Chart. Available on the Internet http //www.drugabuse.gov/DrugPages/PrescripDrugsChart.html. ... 

The most commonly abused prescription drugs are opioids and opiates such as oxycodone and morphine, central nervous system depressants such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines, and stimulants such as dextroamphetamine and methylphenidate. Brand-name painkillers such as Vicodin and OxyContin, depressants such as Valium and Xanax, and stimulants such as Ritalin and Dexedrine are commonly abused (as are some OTC cough remedies). Although helpful and safe when used appropriately, these drugs can cause serious harm when taken in unapproved ways. 

Ford, Jason A Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use among Adolescents The Influence of Bonds to Family and School. Youth Society 40, no. 3 (March 2009) 336-352. What kinds of teens are most likely to abuse prescription drugs It turns out from this study that they are the same kind of teens that abuse nonprescription drugs. Based on a 2005 national survey, the findings document that teens with weak ties to family and school most often misuse prescription drugs. 

Roche, Timothy. The Potent Perils of a Miracle Drug. Time, vol. 157, January 8, 2001, p. 47. Describes the emergence of OxyContin, the opiate painkiller that is becoming one of the most widely abused prescription drugs. The time-release capsules are broken open and the drug can then be snorted or injected, producing an effect not unlike heroin. Federal au-... 

Purdue Pharma L.P. Painfully Obvious The Effects of Abusing Prescription Drugs. (March 29, 2002). . 

People who abuse prescription drugs may escape detection for years because they have learned how to beat the system and obtain prescriptions by visiting different doctors and claiming a different ailment at each... 

The number of Americans abusing prescription drugs doubled from 7.8 million in 1992 to 15.1 million in 2003. The painkiller hydrocodone was used by 7.4% of college students in the United States in 2005. It is a semisynthetic opioid derived from two of naturally occurring opiates, codeine and thebaine. Production of this drug has increased in recent years. In Scandinavia, flunitrazapam, a sedative, is sold as Rohypnol, and it is widely known as a date-rape drug. ... 

Oxycontin and Vicodin, both codeine derivatives, along with Demerol, are among the most commonly abused prescription drugs. 

Herndndez F, Bijlsma L, Sancho JV, Diaz R, Ibanez M. Rapid wide-scope screening of drugs of abuse, prescription drugs with potential for abuse and their metabolites in influent and effluent urban wastewater by ultrahigh pressure liquid chromatography—quadrupole-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry. Anal Chim Acta 2011 684 87-97. 

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