...| Reasons and Prevention Strategies for Epidemic of Prescription Drug Abuse among Teens | Prescription Drug Epidemic Among Teens | Walden University | | Reasons and Prevention Strategies for Prescription Drug Abuse among Teens Overview Increasing abuse of prescription drugs among teens can be attributed to psychological, environmental, or behavioral conditions.Drug abuse in teens can be linked to other disorders or conditions which lead to drug abuse. Teens who abuse drugs are likely to become adults who abuse drugs. It is necessary to understand and address these underlying issues if successful prevention is to happen. First it is necessary to understand the magnitude of the problem 2.3 million Teens were abusing prescription drugs in 2003. (Controlled Prescription Drug Abuse at Epidemic Level, 2006) This is a very large number of teens abusing potentially addictive and deadly drugs. These numbers indicate a major problem with the potential to rapidly grow out of control if not addressed appropriately. In fact recent studies have found there has been an increase in prescription drug abuse among teens at an alarming rate. From 2005 to 2008 there was a 12% increase in prescription drug abuse among teens. (Elliot, Souder, Privette, &Richardson, 2008) This is a very large increase in a very short period of time. An increase such as this calls for further explanations on why this increase occurred so rapidly. Prevention methods need to be developed to avert...
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... Comp 2 Is Prescription Drug Abuse an Epidemic? Many people especially the younger generation, ages starting at twelve years old have turned to the abuse of prescription drugs. The most commonly misused prescription drugs are painkillers (opioids), antidepressants, and anxiety medication. People claim addiction is a choice, but according to science addiction is considered a brain disease due to the fact that it alters the brain permanently by changing the structure of the brain itself and how it works. Some say the huge sting made over prescription drug abuse is all over exaggerated and they blame the media. But how can you make the claim that the abuse of prescription drugs isn’t a huge epidemic? The 2010 Nation Survey of Drug use and Health states that 2.4 million Americans have used prescription drugs non medically within the last year with ages 18-25 being the highest of users. Evidence proves that prescription drug abuse is an epidemic in the United States today, and those who disagree rely on blaming the media for falsely portraying the intensity of prescription drug abuse. People often think everything is okay as long as it’s not right in front of their faces, and too many people have turned a blind eye to this dangerous addiction. It is time for people to realize the real issues prescription drug abuse is causing and how quickly it has become such a dangerous epidemic. How did this epidemic spread so quickly, when does addiction actually...
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... Throughout the United States, there is a growing epidemic occurring affecting all genders, races and socio-economical groups, which is the abuse of prescription pain medication and heroin. Per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the number of overdose deaths due to prescription pain medication has quadrupled from 1999 to 2013, with more than 16,000 deaths in 2013 alone (The White House, Office of the Press Secretary, 2015). Also disturbing are the statistics for heroin overdose, which have increased 286 percent from 2002 to 2013, with the rate of addiction doubling as well (Cook, 2015). The abuse of heroin and prescription pain medications are tied together since individuals abusing pain medication are 40 times more likely to become addicted to heroin and half of those addicted to heroin are also addicted to pain medication (Cook, 2015). As this epidemic of drug abuse continues to grow and affect communities across the United States, it becomes apparent that federal and local government bodies need to become involved. One such way is the introduction and passing of new legislation to help cope and deal with the growing issues at hand. On June 17, 2015, one such bill was introduced to a congressional committee, H.R. 2805: Heroin and Prescription Opioid Abuse Prevention, Education, and Enforcement Act of 2015 (S. H.R. 2805, 2015). H.R. 2805 is a bill, which addresses prescription opioid abuse and heroin use, and methods of managing such issues through...
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...Solving the Opioid Epidemic Can the opioid epidemic be solved? Opioid abuse and drug addiction has created a huge problem all over America. With approximately 20,000 americans dying from prescription opioids yearly(O’Donnell), it’s shocking that more hasn’t been done yet to put a stop to this madness. Not only is this affecting thousands of americans, it has been for many years. This national emergency has risen lots of attention, but not enough to end the issue. A lot of organizations have found solutions to this problem and even put some into action, but not enough doctors, companies and organizations have taken action. The opioid epidemic can be solved, but every solution is complex. Despite the complexity of a solution, it’s incredibly...
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...Health Care Reform Project: Part I-Prescription Drugs Prescription drug abuse and prescription overprescribing, of all categories, is becoming rampant in the United States. It is also one of the most rapidly growing dilemmas in America influencing people of all ages. Prescription drug use in the past was limited to adults. Over the last decade, more and more children and adolescents are consumers of these drugs. Coping with children who behaved badly in the past has taken a new direction that includes prescribing medications. Medical professions now have the option to prescribe these medications as they see fit. Many physicians are more than willing to write a prescription based on the complaints of a patient rather than finding other treatment options or the root of the problem. Drugs manufactures have had to come up with new and innovative ways to market these drugs to healthcare providers and the public as well. As society changes so will the way drugs are marketed, prescribed and taken. Demand for prescription drugs will continue to increase as well as the overall cost. Consumers today demand more flexibility in acquiring prescription medications rather than using the traditional drug stores. Patients are swamped by pharmaceutical ads and physicians are repeatedly proliferated with drug prescribing information from pharmaceuticals representatives. Getzen and Allen (2007) states, “the average American fills 11 prescriptions per year. Pharmaceuticals were...
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...USE AND ITS EFFECTS Stimulant use by humans has a very long history. The Ma-huang drug has been used by the Chinese natives for more than 5000 years (Ebadi, 2002). The active agent of Mu-huang was found to be ephedrine in 1887. First synthesis of Amphetamine proper was in 1887 as part of a program for manufacturing aliphatic amines. At first, investigations on amphetamine properties concentrated on peripheral effects and it was found that it was a sympathomimetic agent having bronchodilator properties. However, the effect on the central nervous system was not reported until 1933 which was followed closely by the first amphetamine abuse reports. Amphetamines give people a feeling of relief from fatigue and euphoria, it produces anorexia, improves performance of doing simple tasks and increases the activity levels (Ebadi, 2002). Amphetamine abuse is considered to be related primarily to the euphorigenic effects that lead to its use in high doses before the onset of the final stage which is compulsive abuse. The abuse of Amphetamines at present has been at low epidemic levels since the drug as introduced in the 1930s. During the beginning of the 1950s and 60s however, the epidemic appeared in the United States, Sweden and japan. A study of the epidemic reveals that there were several factors which contributed to its spread and these include; large population segments being introduced to the drug for recreational, medical and reduction of fatigue purposes, the quick spread of...
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...Drug Treatment for Offenders Nicole Myers 20700 CRIJ 1304 Probation and Parole Abstract The addiction to drugs is a difficult thing for any individual to deal with. Often, addiction leads to the decline of a person’s well-being, financial security, and health. Drug addicts have a hard time keeping a job, their families suffer the consequences, and sometimes the addicts find themselves either in trouble with the law, or homeless on the street. There is an epidemic of almost epic proportions in this wonderful nation called the United States. However, this epidemic is not only national; it is worldwide. And because of this epidemic there are other problems in society such as an increase in crime and prison overcrowding. The epidemic is that of Substance Abuse and Addiction. The penal systems of each state house more prisoners due to drug related crimes than any other. Treatment instead of incarceration would be beneficial to the addict himself and to society as a whole. Evidence shows treatment would lower the amount of criminal activity due to substance abuse and addiction. Logic shows that if a problem is cured then the consequences of the problem disappear. There are different points of view on the subject of treatment or incarceration for those criminals who are substance abusers. And there are valid points in either argument. The viewpoint in favor of incarceration is supported by the deterrence and incapacitation theory. This theory promotes increased arrests, prosecutions...
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...should know that we as our nation is facing this epidemic. Drug abuse is huge problem in many countries. Billions of dollars are spent trying to preventing drug use, treating addicts, and fighting drug-related crime. Drug abuse causes multiple problems for countries and communities. The medical and psychological effects are very obvious. Addicts cannot function as normal members of society. They neglect or abuse their families, and eventually require expensive treatment or hospitalization. Jesse Heffernan is a Certified Recovery Coach. He is a creative, imaginative, forward-thinking, advocate. He is also in recovery. (Cook Alicia 8/2008) “He pretty much used whatever he could get his hands on, and he admitted that “Crack was the bottoming...
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...Most of us respect prescription drugs, mainly used for the reason the doctor intended. Understanding problems, pitfalls and the magnitude prescription drug abuse and misuse has on today’s society. Medical society estimates the number as high as 40 million people (aged 12 and older); have used drugs for nonmedical reasons in their lifetime. Making nonmedical use of prescription drugs a defining drug dilemma of the new century. The management of chronic pain is an art and a science, according to the Center of Disease Control (CDC). Nevertheless, the opioid epidemic has received substantial publicity and policy makers are more aggressively trying to combat the problem. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the three classes of...
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...The opioid epidemic has become a prominent issue across America. Fathers, mothers, sisters, and brothers have been ripped from family members arms to pay the neverending debt that comes with addiction. According to the CDC, “From 2000 to 2015, more than half a million people have died from drug overdoses,” and many more in the few years since (Understanding the Epidemic).Unless the United States Government places stringent regulations on the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries, the opioid crisis, a significant health threat to Americans, will continue unabated. (Body One) The pharmaceutical companies lobbying of congressmen is one leading contributor of the opioid crisis that is currently plaguing the United States. Congressmen are...
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...problem of prescription drug addiction is at its worst today than ever before, causing countless cases of dependency and abuse at epidemic proportions, and gaining the reputation of being the "silent epidemic" in some major cities in America. Prescription drug addiction is also known as the "silent killer," and rightfully so, because it can take one innocent pill, or the wrong dosage, to place its user into a permanent sleep-an all-too familiar event known as fatally "overdosing." From suburban neighborhoods, to celebrity life, to the ghettos-prescription drug abuse seems to have no bounds in our society, affecting millions everyday. But how wide-spread is this kind of abuse, and how serious is it? In 2010 alone, it was reported that an estimated 7 million America citizens claimed to be abusing prescription medications. Granted, this is only a little less than 3% of the total US population, but the jolting fact comes from the amount of increasing deaths from prescription medication abuse. It's one thing for large populations to abuse drugs, true; but it's another thing to lose lives rapidly over such a short period of time. As stated earlier, the strength of prescription drugs can be so overwhelming that it may take one instance, or one miscalculating dose, to result in a deadly overdose. In other words,...
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...The American Crack Epidemic: How the War on Drugs was as Detrimental to Society as Drugs Themselves. Lucas Carneiro U.S. History 4/21/2013 Throughout the mid-20th century, Americans have experimented with illicit drugs, from marijuana to LSD. In the late 70s and early 80s, the high cost of cocaine made it the drug of choice for wealthy, elite, White Americans. On the other side of the social spectrum, lower-class African Americans sought an escape from their difficult circumstances in impoverished inner-city neighborhoods. They found refuge in crack, a smokeable form of cocaine, whose low production cost, high addictiveness, and debilitating nature made it the drug of choice for urban African American communities in 1986 (Reinarman, 1997; Watkins, 1998; Fullilove, 1998). The drug contributed to the increase in disease, violence, and poverty in these communities, turning inner-city neighborhoods into “war zones”. The U.S. Government’s War on Drugs campaign did little to solve this crisis, using aggressive, military tactics to address an epidemic surrounded by socioeconomic and health issues. In the 1960s, the Vietnam conflict among several unpopular moves by the U.S. government created a generation of rebellious, young Americans. This generation experimented with drugs in order to alter their state of mind, and to escape from the problems that came with politics and society. The generation of young “hippies” ignited a drug culture in the U.S. As time progressed, people...
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...the abuse of prescription opioids. In the past 10 years, the misuse of prescribed opioids has gone out of control, making it a national issue that many people are attempting to attack. Prescription opioid use is increasing in public health, creating an epidemic that is growing rapidly. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse: opiates, depressants, and stimulants are the three drug classifications most commonly abused by Americans. A multitude of research on the subject has concluded that there is more than a single solution to the problem, such as taking immediate action as well as creating prevention strategies. I decided to do additional research on this topic since it plays a huge part in my career as well as personal life. Being a substance abuse counselor in the criminal justice field, I experience first-hand the effects of prescription opioid abuse. A large number of client’s participating in the TASC (Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities) are dealing with prescription opioid abuse due to an injury or surgical procedure. On April 25, 2015, my first cousin died from a heroin overdose at the age of 23. After a football injury, he was prescribed Hydrocodone and became addicted. Since the pills are too expensive, he began using heroin and his battle ended 5 years later. In 2009, 16 million Americans age 12 and older reported taking a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant or sedative for nonmedical purpose according to the Substance Abuse and...
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...The abuse of controlled substances is a rapidly growing problem in the United States. Controlled substances include opioids, barbiturates, and tranquilizers. Opioids are prescription painkillers often referred to as narcotics. Per Shepherd (2014), the fastest growing drug problem in the United States is prescription painkiller abuse. It is estimated that the cost of prescription painkiller abuse cost the United States more than $125 billion dollars yearly. A national prescription drug monitoring program for controlled substances would be crucially beneficial in combatting the drug abuse problem in the United States. Prescription painkiller abuse is classified as a health epidemic by the Center for Disease Control(CDC) (Sheperd,2014). There...
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...Opioids abuse is a huge problem that causes health issues. Drug overdose causes deaths that are a huge part of Americans in the u it's states. Drug abuse is a serious condition that people suffer from that affects almost everyone in their community in a certain way. Every year drug abuse causes millions of injuries that leads to deaths and more addictions. In the United States the abuse of prescription is high and not so many people are aware of the situation they put them sleeves in by taking them. The nonmedical use and abuse of prescription drugs is a serious public health problem in this country. Although most people take prescription medications responsibly, an estimated 52 million people have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons at least once in their lifetimes.The rate of the drug abuse was escalating to 313 percent over the past few years. Opioid drugs were invoked in 16,650 deaths in 2010 more deaths than overdosing on heroin and cocaine. Being on pain killers and...
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