Addictions prescription drugs

Research Report Prescription Drugs Abuse and Addiction, Bethesda, Md. National Institute on Drug Abuse, NIH Publication No. 01-4881, July 2001. 

Barbiturates, which preceded benzodiazepines as the most commonly abused sedative hypnotics (after ethanol), are now rarely prescribed to outpatients and therefore constitute a less common prescription drug problem than they did in the past. Street sales of barbiturates, however, continue. Management of barbiturate withdrawal and addiction is similar to that of benzodiazepines. 

Colvin, Rod. Prescription Drug Addiction The Hidden Epidemic. Omaha, Neb. Addicus Books, 1995. This book warned early of the trend toward addiction to prescription drugs. To help readers understand the problem, it contains the personal stories of people from diverse backgrounds who... 

National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Women under the Influence. Baltimore, Md. Johns Hopkins University Press, 2006. Focused on substance abuse among girls and women, this book includes a chapter on illicit use of prescription drugs. The research reported in the volume compares the addiction and abuse of women to that of men. Although women abuse drugs less than men, the problem remains a significant one. Women tend to become addicted more quickly than men and benefit from different types of treatments. 

This article for teens emphasizes the risks of taking prescription drugs without guidance from a medical professional. To illustrate the risks, it tells the stories of several teens who became addicted to prescription drugs. 

Rinaldo, Denise. The Internet Drug Trade. Scholastic Choices 23, no. 2 (October 2007) 12-15. Relating stories about how two teenage girls became addicted to prescription drugs, this article focuses on access through the Internet. It criticizes sales of prescription drugs via the Internet because such sales foster problems of abuse. 

A common vocabulary has not been established in the field of prescription drug abuse. Because much of the survey data collected in this area refer to nonmedical use of prescription drugs, this definition of abuse, rather than that of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), is used. Also, because physical dependence to prescription medications can develop during medically supervised appropriate use, the term addiction is used to reflect dependence as defined by the DSM. 

Summary Provides detailed information about the composition, history, effect, uses and abuses of common drugs, including illegal drugs and addictive substances, as well as commonly abused classes of prescription drugs. 

DOCTOR SHOPPING A practice in which an individual continually switches physicians so that he or she can get enough of a prescription drug to feed an addiction. This practice makes it difficult for physicians to track whether the patient has already been prescribed the same drug by another physician. 

Codeine plays a relatively minor role in the overall picture of opioid prescription drug abuse. Evidence indicates that proper prescribing of codeine for legitimate medical concerns does not greatly increase the risk of addiction and abuse. Those in the medical community agree that more education is needed on both sides to help prevent the potential for abuse and addiction, so that patients tmly in need are not denied access to codeine based on misperceptions and fear. The benefits for individuals and society are great when chronic pain is treated safely and effectively. 

Dextromethorphan is not classified as a controlled substance under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) of 1970. The CSA was created as a means to regulate the distribution and use of prescription drugs that are highly addictive, such as codeine, oxycodone, morphine, and hydromorphone. 

Women are more likely than men to receive prescribed drugs that are abused among adult populations. These prescribed drugs are most often antidepressants and pain relievers. Evidence indicates that men and women are at similar risk for becoming addicted to opioids. However, women are far more likely to become addicted to other types of prescription drugs than men. 

Another area of concern in prescription drug abuse is with health-care providers, such as nurses, doctors, pharmacists, dentists, and others. These persons have ready access to highly addictive drugs, such as the opioids, and are more vulnerable to such abuse. In addition, these professions are more stressful than average, and this may be a factor in the higher-than-normal rates of abuse in this group. 

The increased vigilance of legal authorities to crack down on prescription drug abuse has led to situations where patients are afraid to ask for sufficient pain medication for fear of being seen as an addict or someone with a low pain threshold. Many physicians are afraid to prescribe opioids because they are required by law to record and justify all narcotic analgesic prescriptions. 

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