I will admit there has been little good news with respect to prescription drug abuse in the United Sates. As a counselor for both in-class and online drug classes I have had more students enter due to prescription medication that marijuana!
Report after report claim that abuse of prescription medications is at nearly epidemic levels. Could it be that we are turning the tide? As reported in usatoday30.usatoday.com.
A recent study showed that the number of people 18 to 25 who regularly abuse prescription drugs fell 14% to 1.7 million. It found that in 2011, 3.6% of young adults abused pain relievers, the lowest rate in a decade.
Could the decrease in abuse indicate that public health and law enforcement efforts to curb abuse of prescription drugs, such as the powerful painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone, are working?
The survey also found that in 2011, 6.1 million people abused narcotic pain pills, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives, down from 7 million people in 2010. Pain pill abuse dropped from 2.1% of the population in 2009 to 1.7% in 2011.
Still, the number of people addicted to pain relievers grew from 936,000 in 2002 to 1.4 million in 2011. About a third of the addicts are 18 to 25.
I am not sure this survey is completely accurate, but I do believe that with continued effort at education through drug classes and increased effort at busting “pill doctors” we will reverse the frightening trend of prescription drug abuse.