Every day I read articles and blogs about our nation’s horrific problem with prescription drug abuse. Could it be that we are beginning to turn the tide?
A recent government study has revealed that the actual percentages of prescription drug abusers is on the decline. As a counselor for both in-class and online drug classes I may beg to differ. As reported in usatoday.com.
The battle to combat prescription medication abuse is being fought on many levels. First are prescription drug monitoring programs, which can identify doctors who prescribe excessive doses of the drugs and patients who seek multiple prescriptions from different doctors.
In 2011, 22.5 million Americans 12 or older, nearly 9% of the population, said they regularly used illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants or abused prescription drugs, including pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives. While cocaine abuse has dropped from 2.4 million regular users in 2006 to 1.4 million last year, heroin abuse is rising. The number of people who reported regular heroin use grew from 161,000 in 2007 to 281,000 in 2011.
A second avenue that has been used to tackle the prescription medication abuse issue is continued efforts at education through drug classes. Hopefully, busting “pill doctors” and educating would be users and abusers will help us curtail and reverse the trend of prescription drug abuse.