Originally published July 24 2005
Prescription drug abuse runs rampant
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A three-year study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University reports 15.1 million people abuse prescription drugs -- which exceeds the number of people abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin combined -- and 2.3 million of the abusers are teenagers, who turn to prescription drugs at much higher rates than adults, the study says.
"When I was young my parents would lock their liquor cabinet.
It may be parents should be thinking of locking their medicine cabinets."
The center's three-year study analyzed 15 national data sets, collected information on Internet pharmacies, and conducted original interviews and surveys among doctors and pharmacists.
The tally of abusers of medications is derived from the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, the most recent in which participants report their own use.
The number of prescriptions for controlled drugs and the number of abusers far outstripped U.S. population growth between 1992 and 2002, the study reports.
The rise in prescriptions reflects the fact that some illnesses can now be treated by medication rather than by other means, Califano said, "so there is not a perfect relation between that and the rise in abuse.
The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, whose members include major drug firms, "strongly supports efforts that help prevent the dangerous and illegal practice of diverting prescription drugs from their intended use," PhRMA Senior Vice President Ken Johnson said in a written statement.
Some drugstore chains have already tightened controls over cold and cough remedies abused by teenagers by putting them behind counters or selling them only to adults.
The study suggests broader remedies, including improving monitoring of sales and distribution by enforcement agents, having doctors routinely ask patients about prescription drug use as they do tobacco use, and improving training to detect abuse.
At least seven attempts to control online drug sales or make the licensing and ownership of Web pharmacies more obvious have failed in Congress since 2004, the study reported.
The center's study was funded by a $1 million unrestricted grant from Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of OxyContin, a painkiller originally intended for end-stage cancer patients.
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