Non Medical Use Of Prescription Drugs

The advancement of pharmaceutical industry have led to the production of many effective medications that improves the quality of life of many patients when prescribed appropriately. However, these medications can create serious consequences to the health of users and lead to dependence when used inappropriately. Therefore, drug controls and the creation of prescription drug policy have been established to ensure the health of growing population around the world. It goes back to when medicine was still a novel aspect to the industry of medicine, where there were limited knowledge on the effects of certain drugs. Deaths and injuries due to misunderstanding of the use of different drugs had led to many law passing including the creation of prescription

In accordance to the world drug report in 2010, “the misuse of prescription drugs, including opioids, benzodiazepines, and synthetic prescription stimulants, is a growing health problem in a number of developed and developing countries.” An overdosage can occur both by the obtaining of legitimized prescriptions or by obtaining drugs that was not prescribed. The issue is rather complex because the root of the problem is very disputable. The difficulty in preventing diversion while ensuring accessibility to those who need it for medical purpose proposes the complication of establishing an effective policy on prescription drug abuse. Policy makers or those with the appropriate authority must go through complicated procedures to exactly pinpoint improper or illegitimate prescribing. An existence gap in tracking the distribution of prescription drugs allows for diversion to individuals not prescribed with the following medication. Close monitoring covers more towards illegal drugs, alcohol, and tobacco. Therefore, monitoring non-medical use of prescription drugs is a special case that requires attention in an inventive level. This issue requires immediate attention because not only that there is a rapid increase in the use of these medications, but younger consumers are also turning to this manner. As a matter of fact, 2.6% of people aged 12 years or older have reported using prescription drug non medically in 2005. Within the 12 to 17 years age group, females are more likely to use prescription drugs in a non-medical context than males. The future of the United States is at stake especially when younger individuals are growing into a ‘pill popping culture’ where non-medical use of prescription drugs is already a cultural norm. Most life issues are treated through medication along with the