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Prescription drug misuse is the fastest-growing drug problem in the United States, and it’s dramatically affecting the lives of teenagers.
About 50% of high school students admit that they have obtained prescription pain medication for nonmedical use. What is the draw to prescription medication?
The most common misconception is that prescription drugs are safe.
They aren't.
They’re no less harmful than other kinds of drugs. However, there is a range of short-and long-term health consequences for each type of prescription drug used inappropriately.
Stimulants
These have side effects in common with cocaine, and may include paranoia, dangerously high body temperatures, and an irregular heartbeat, especially if stimulants are taken in large doses or in ways other than swallowing a pill.
Opioids
These act on the same parts of the brain as heroin, can cause drowsiness, nausea, constipation, and, depending on the amount taken, slowed breathing.
Depressants
These can cause slurred speech, shallow breathing, fatigue, disorientation, lack of coordination, and seizures upon withdrawal from chronic use.
Stimulants
These have side effects in common with cocaine, and may include paranoia, dangerously high body temperatures, and an irregular heartbeat, especially if stimulants are taken in large doses or in ways other than swallowing a pill.
Opioids
These act on the same parts of the brain as heroin, can cause drowsiness, nausea, constipation, and, depending on the amount taken, slowed breathing.
Depressants
These can cause slurred speech, shallow breathing, fatigue, disorientation, lack of coordination, and seizures upon withdrawal from chronic use.
Youth & prescription drug abuse
The pre-frontal cortex develops at this point and enables us to set priorities, formulate strategies, allocate attention and control impulses. The outer mantle also develops helping us become more sophisticated at processing information, understand rules, laws, and codes for social conduct. Drug use impacts perception and can fracture developing neural pathways.
To minimize prescription drug misuse and abuse in young people there are a few things that can help.
Education
One in four teenagers believe that prescription drugs can be used as a study aid and nearly one-third of parents say that they believe that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication can improve a child’s academic or testing performance, even if that child does not have ADHD. Parents, children, and prescribers must be educated on the impact of prescription drugs on the developing brain. Arming people with better information to make healthy decisions is key.
Safe medication storage and disposal
Two-thirds of teens who misused pain relievers in the past year say that they got them from family and friends, including their home’s medicine cabinets, making it important to safeguard medicine in the home. Safe storage and disposal of medications diminish opportunities for easy access.
Prescription drug monitoring
Many people are calling on doctors and pharmacies to better monitor how (and how often) drugs are prescribed. Doctors more readily hand out prescription painkillers than they did ten years ago, and, according to some sources, pharmacists do not habitually check prescription drug registries, which help to identify potential over-prescribing and misuse.
There is an opioid epidemic happening.
Right now.
In the late 1990s, pharmaceutical companies reassured the medical community that patients would not become addicted to prescription opioid pain relievers, and healthcare providers began to prescribe them at greater rates. This subsequently led to widespread diversion and misuse of these medications before it became clear that these medications could indeed be highly addictive.
What are opioids?
Opioids are a type of drug used to reduce pain. They work by binding to specific brain receptors to minimize the body’s perception of pain.
What are the most common types of opioids?
Common types of opioids include oxycodone (OxyContin), hydrocodone (Vicodin), morphine and methadone.
What are the risks and side-effects of opioid use?
Prescription opioids have several side-effects, even when taken as directed, including increased sensitivity to pain, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and confusion. They can also cause a person to stop breathing or develop a tolerance, making them feel like they need more of it to feel “normal” or to get the same high they did the first time they took the drug.
How big a problem is the opioid epidemic?
Opioid painkiller addictions and overdoses are a rapidly growing problem, with no immediate end in sight. Between 2011 and 2015, overdose deaths in the United States from opioids tripled. And by 2014, Americans became more likely to die from an opioid overdose than from a car accident.
How does someone overdose from an opioid?
When a person takes too much of an opioid painkiller, they can experience slowed breathing, confusion, lack of oxygen to the brain and even death. Opioid overdoses most commonly occur when alcohol, sedatives or a combination of opioid painkillers is taken, when a person accidentally takes too much of their prescription medicine or when a person mixes certain types of prescribed medicines.
What increases the chance of an opioid overdose?
Risk factors that can increase the chance of an opioid overdose include using multiple substances, variation in strength and content of substances used, tolerance level and more.
What is naloxone?
Naloxone(also known as Narcan and Evzio) is an opioid antagonist, which means it reverses the effects of opioids on the body. It is a temporary solution that can provide time for medical professionals to arrive and give appropriate medical attention.
Where can I go if I’m addicted?
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) National Helpline is a free, confidential, 24/7, 365-day-a-year treatment referral and information service for individuals or family members facing a mental health or substance use challenge. Call the hotline 1-800-662-HELP (4357) if you need help. (Do you want to add RecoveryMatters for local?)
What’s being done to stop it?
- Improving access to treatment and recovery services
- Promoting use of overdose-reversing drugs
- Strengthening our understanding of the epidemic through better public health surveillance
- Providing support for cutting-edge research on pain and addiction
- Advancing better practices for pain management
