Health Provider Awareness Can Curb Prescription Drug Abuse
Science Related News
Increasing health care providers' level of concern about prescription drug abuse in their communities may be an effective public health tool in fighting America's prescription drug abuse epidemic, according to a study.
Source
Most teens who misuse prescription stimulants say they use other people's medication
Using someone else's medication is the most common form of prescription stimulant misuse among adolescents, according to a study, which found that 88 percent of teens who used the drugs non-medically in the past 30 days said they had obtained the medications from someone else. Ref. Source 2z.
Yeah, it's not only easy for patients to get addicted on opioids. Apparently it's fairly easy for doctors to get addicted to prescribing them… because they are easy I think. Prescribing something else means having to find the correct dosage, hearing the patient complain about wanting something stronger, etc. We probably need to look at this as a nation and realize this is a problem and mandate a way to reduce our addiction to using and prescribing these types of drugs.
Prescription opioid cough and cold medicines.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is requiring safety labeling changes for prescription cough and cold medicines containing codeine or hydrocodone to limit the use of these products to adults 18 years and older because the risks of these medicines outweigh their benefits in children younger than 18. We are also requiring the addition of safety information about the risks of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, death, and slowed or difficult breathing to the Boxed Warning, our most prominent warning, of the drug labels for prescription cough and cold medicines containing codeine or hydrocodone. Source 2w.