Prescription drugs do not always cause addiction, but a specific group of prescription narcotics can increase dependency on the medication and cause a severe addiction. For many people that become addicted to prescribed medicines, it changes their life forever. Prescription drugs are equally as dangerous as street drugs, if not more so. High powered pain relievers are safe if taken properly, but some people pop multiples a day which can cause coma and even death.
If a person is prescribed a medication known to cause drug addiction, then it is important to monitor behavior and habits while taking it. If they frequently ask for refills or seem to run out of the medication quickly, an addiction may be present. If a person has a history of drug
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If people are selling them, report them. In high schools around the US students pass on Ritalin and other drugs to other students. If you happen to be a student and witness this happening, the best thing to do is report them so a fellow peer does not fall victim to addiction.
If you have recently started a medication known to be addictive, but feel side effects taking hold, go to your doctor to discuss ceasing the medication. For some people it is important to continue taking the medicines that will help them, but avoiding addictions at all costs is equally as important.
The risks of prescription drug addiction include:
• Hallucinations caused by taking too many of the pills.
• Shaking and trembling if you do not get the medicine.
• Inability to focus if you don't have Ritalin or something similar to pop every few hours.
• Dependency on the medications when taking a course for treatment, feeling sick after discontinuing use and wanting more of the drug.
• Going through all lengths in order to get the medication even after refills expire, such as purchasing from online pharmacies, drug dealers, or even stealing them from friends.
• Taking more than the recommended dose in order to "feel better" on a regular
In medical school/pharmacology school, medical professionals are taught to treat severe pain with opioids. However, opioids should be prescribed with the possibility of future dependency in mind. Physicians often struggle with whether they should prescribe opioids or seek alternative methodologies. This ethical impasse has led may medical professionals to prescribe opioids out of sympathy, without regard for the possibility of addiction (Clarke). As previously stated, a way to address this is use alternative methods so that physicians will become more acquainted to not not treating pain by means of opioid
Opioids are used as pain relievers and although it does the job, there are adverse side effects. Opioids are frequently used in the medical field, allowing doctors to overprescribe their patients. The substance can be very addicting to the dosage being prescribed to the patient. Doctors are commonly prescribing opioids for patients who have mild, moderate, and severe pain. As the pain becomes more severe for the patient, the doctor is more likely to increase the dosage. The increasing dosages of the narcotics become highly addicting. Opioids should not be prescribed as pain killers, due to their highly addictive chemical composition, the detrimental effects on opioid dependent patients, the body, and on future adolescents. Frequently doctors have become carless which causes an upsurge of opioids being overprescribed.
Almost everybody on Long Island, and probably all around the world, has been prescribed a drug by a doctor before— whether it was to knock out a nasty virus, or relieve pain post injury or surgery. However, what many people don’t realize is that these drugs can have highly addictive qualities, and more and more people are becoming hooked, specifically teenagers. But when does harmlessly taking a prescription drug to alleviate pain take the turn into the downward spiral of abuse? The answer to that question would be when the user begins taking the drug for the “high” or good feelings brought along with it—certainly not what it was prescribed for (1). The amount of teens that abuse prescription medications has been rapidly increasing in recent
...ing a wide variety of side effects ranging from nausea to severe psychological dependence. The large number of prescriptions being filled has led to an increased circulation of the drug. This, in turn, leads to a greater possibility of misuse of the drug. Office staff and administrators have to come up with safety procedure to insure safe and proper dispension of the drug.
“Teens Abusing and Selling Ritalin for High.” ABC News. ABC News Internet Ventures. 25 Feb. 2014. Web. 6 March 2014.
Addiction is a dependence on a substance where the individual who is affected feels defenseless and unable to stop the obsession to use a substance or prevent a particular behavior. Millions of Americans have addictions to drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and even to behaviors such as obsessive gambling. Pharmacotherapy is a treatment process in which a counselor can use a particular drug to counter act an addictive drug or behavior. Not all counselors agree with this type of treatment. However in order to provide a client with an ethical treatment and unbiased opinions they should be made aware of all scientific evidence of different treatment options. “Thus, attention to addiction pharmacotherapy is an ethical mandate no matter what prejudices a counselor may have” (Capuzzi & Stauffer, 2008, p. 196). Some particular pharmacotherapy’s a counselor may use for the treatment of addiction are Bupropion (Wellbutrin, Zyban), Disulfiram (Antabuse), Naltrexone (ReVia, Depade), Methadone (Dolophine), and Buprenorphine (Temgesic, Suboxone).
Attention getter: an estimated 52 million people (20 percent of those aged 12 and older) have used prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons at least once in their lifetimes. (http://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/prescription-drugs/director) Explain: Although many people are prescribed and use the drugs responsibly, many don’t. Kids often share or sell their medication to others not prescribed. Misuse can lead to health problems or even death.
Blood and urine tests may also detect the types of abused drugs. But also in some cases there are certain signs and symptoms that provide clues that someone is on drugs (“Test and Diagnosis”). There is treatment out in communities that can help a person who is abusing the use of prescription drugs. Although, the treatment for a person who abuses prescribed drugs varies. But, counseling and psychotherapy are available in communities.
Prescription drug abuse is defined as a person taking a prescription drug in ways other than prescribed by their doctor or by taking someone else’s prescribed drug.
Many teenagers steal medications from family members or purchase them illegally. Another common ploy used to obtain these drugs, involves the teenager faking certain symptoms and responding falsely when screened by doctors in order to receive medication. Some individuals who misuse prescription drugs, particularly teens, believe these substances are safer than illicit drugs because they are prescribed by a healthcare professional and dispensed by a pharmacist (“Prescription Drug Abuse”). According to several national surveys, prescription medications, such as those used to treat pain, attention deficit disorders, and anxiety, are being abused at a rate second only to marijuana among illicit drug users (Volkow 1).
The substance was taken in larger amounts or over a longer period of time than ones has intended
In the United States of America, prescription drugs are very high in price. People are always struggling to pay for their prescriptions. Some people work a couple jobs to pay their prescriptions. While other search for a job that has a good health plan. Many people end up working their lives away just to pay for their prescriptions.
There are many serious issues that can come from drug addiction that have consequences with your health especially with conditions that require prescriptions. Overdoses in women is something that isn’t as recognized as it should be specially when it is known for women to get addicted more quickly. Pregnant women who are abusing prescription drugs can face dire outcomes with their babies if there isn’t help given to the mother in enough time. Sometimes addiction cannot be helped when the drugs that you think should be helping you are actually not, making you believe that you need something else to take. It may not be a quick turnaround, but with time some need to realize what they are doing to themselves and to others to really start making a change in their
In 1971, President Nixon sparked what would become the War on Drugs as we know it today. In his message to Congress, Nixon declared drugs to be public enemy number one in America, and announced that a new federal initiative would attempt to combat this epidemic. Nixon’s original intent for the new directive was to treat the drug problem itself, with a focus on rehabilitation for addicts and addressing root issues, such as the foreign manufacturing of problematic drugs. However, in the early 1980s, President Reagan put a new, punitive twist on federal anti-drug efforts, and this “focus on criminal punishment over treatment led to a massive increase in incarcerations for nonviolent drug offenses, from 50,000 in 1980 to 400,000 in 1997” (“War
If someone gets depended on a drug or alcohol, there is a high possibility that they will get addicted to the drug. Addiction is the fact or condition of being addicted to a particular substance, thing, or activity. They will have a compulsive reaction to the substance. Compulsive means resulting from or relating to an irresistible urge, especially one that is against one's conscious wishes. The cravings for drugs will take over the user's life.