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INFORMATION:
Presciption Drugs - Get the facts
Presciption Drugs – Get the facts
Prescription drugs are medicines that are given to a patient by a doctor to treat a specific health condition. Prescription drugs make complex surgeries possible, relieve pain for millions of people, and enable individuals with certain medical conditions, like diabetes, to control their symptoms. Prescription drugs are not harmful if they are used properly and only under a doctor’s supervision. However, taking prescription drugs without a doctor’s approval and supervision can be a dangerous, even deadly, decision.
Using prescription drugs without a doctor’s approval (non-medical use) could lead to serious health problems. Data from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health show the second most common type of illegal drug use after marijuana is the non-medical use of prescription drugs. And it’s not just adults that are abusing these drugs. Another recent survey revealed that 10.5 percent of 12th-graders reported using Vicodin® (the brand name of the pain reliever hydrocodone) without a prescription in the 12 months prior to the survey and 4.5 percent said they had used OxyContin® (the brand name of the pain reliever oxycodone) in that time period.
The Difference between Mis-Use and Abuse
Prescription drugs can be both mis-used and abused. These two words have different meanings. A person with a valid drug prescription can mis-use it if he or she doesn’t follow the directions properly. For example, if a prescription says to take one pill every four hours and then the user takes three pills every four hours instead, he or she is mis-using the drug. Sometimes, people think that taking more of a drug will make its effect happen quicker. This is a mistake. Prescription drug instructions are carefully designed and serious consequences, like overdosing, can occur when these instructions are not followed.
Abuse means that a person, with or without a prescription, intentionally takes a prescription drug to get high or for some reason other than what the drug is intended to treat. The difference between mis-use and abuse is the person’s intention – is he or she using it inappropriately out of ignorance (mis-use) or is he or she intentionally using it for a non-medical purpose (abuse)?
Both mis-use and abuse of prescription drugs are very dangerous and can have the same dangerous consequences.
How Can Mis-Using or Abusing Prescription Drugs Hurt You?
Commonly abused prescription drugs belong to one of three categories, although there are many other categories of drugs:
• Narcotic Pain Medications (Opioids): often prescribed to treat pain. Vicodin® and OxyContin® are two well-known opioids.
• Central Nervous System (CNS) Depressants: used to treat anxiety and sleep disorders. Valium® and Xanax® are both popular CNS depressants.
• CNS Stimulants: prescribed to treat narcolepsy and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Ritalin® is a well-known example of a CNS stimulant.
• Produce drowsiness;
• Cause constipation;
• Depress breathing, depending on the amount taken. Even a large single dose could cause severe respitory depression and death;
• Interact with other drugs and are only safe to use with other drugs when under a physician’s supervision;
• (Repeated use can) result in tolerance to the drugs so that higher doses must be taken to get the same initial effects;
• Lead to physical dependence after long-term use. This means that the body adapts to the presence of the drug and withdrawal symptoms occur if use is reduced abruptly;
• Produce withdrawal symptoms including restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes with goose bumps, and involuntary leg movements.
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• Slow breathing, or slow both the heart and respiration, which can be fatal. This is particularly true if CNS depressants are combined with the use of certain prescription pain medicines, over-the-counter cold and allergy medications, or alcohol;
• Be highly addictive, which leads to compulsive drug seeking and use;
• Lead to withdrawal symptoms after prolonged use, including seizures. When a person stops using CNS depressants after a period of abusing them, the brain’s activity rebounds and can cause this condition.
• Result in the development of an irregular heartbeat;
• Raise the body’s temperature to dangerously high levels;
• Lead to cardiovascular failure or deadly seizures;
• Create feelings of hostility or paranoia;
• Be particularly dangerous when combined with the use of anti-depressants or over-the-counter cold medicines containing decongestants. Anti-depressants may enhance the effects of stimulants. Decongestants, when combined with stimulants, may cause blood pressure to become dangerously high or lead to irregular hearth rhythms.
If you’re online and see a promotion, email, or Web site claiming to sell prescription drugs, think twice. Would any legit medical professional prescribe you a drug without even knowing how much you weigh or evaluating your symptoms in person? There are some shady people out there who are only concerned about making a profit off of selling prescription drugs online without ANY concern for your health. That’s the definition of “sketchy.”
What these people don’t realize is that distributing drugs, even prescription drugs, is considered drug dealing and is illegal. Taking prescription drugs without a doctor’s approval and supervision is always dangerous, can be addictive, and sometimes even fatal.
Prescription Drugs in the Emergency Room
• In 2000, 43 percent of those who ended up in hospital emergency rooms from drug overdoses-nearly a half million people-were there because of misusing or abusing prescription drugs.
• In seven cities in 2000 (Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Seattle, and Washington, DC) 626 people died from overdose of painkillers and tranquilizers. By 2001, such deaths had increased in Miami and Chicago by 20 percent.
• From 1998 to 2000, the number of people entering an emergency room because of misusing or abusing hydrocodone (Vicodin®) rose 48 percent and oxycodone (Oxycontin®) rose 108 percent. The rates are intensifying: from mid-2000 to mid-2001, oxycodone went up in emergency room visits 44 percent.
Source: Prevention Alert (Volume 6, Number 4), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP)
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