Prescription Drug Abuse and Diversion: The Hidden Crisis
The Extent of the Problem
The misuse, abuse and illegal diversion of licit or
prescription medications has received less media
attention, less public funding, less legal scrutiny
and less political priority than other drug-related
problems. Data from national self-report surveys,
hospital emergency room admissions and treatment
records, poison control centers and even morbidity
and mortality reports suggest the problem is quite
larger than perceived.
While overall illegal drug use has declined or
remained steady in recent years, the use and abuse of
prescription and over the counter drugs has increased,
especially in the teen and young adult population
where prescription drugs are abused more than any
other drug with the exception of marijuana. Of note,
the number of teens abusing prescription and over
the counter drugs is greater than the number abusing
cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine combined
(Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2008). Data
from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health
(2008) suggest that more than 2 million teens abuse
prescription drugs each year. Prescription drugs, in
fact, are the drug of choice for 12 and 13 year olds.
Forty percent of teens believe that it is safer to
abuse prescription drugs versus illegal drugs while
30 percent of these teens believe that prescription
pain killers are not addictive (Partnership Attitude
Tracking Study, 2006). However, treatment center
admission data suggest otherwise, with the number
of persons admitted for the abuse of pain relief
medications growing 300 percent from 1995 to
2005 (Treatment Episode Data Set, 2006). More
recent admission data indicate an alarming rise in the
number of prescription drug abusers, with increases
occurring among both males and females, all racial/
ethnic groups, all age groups and also across all
socioeconomic status sets (Office of National Drug
Control Policy, 2010).
Likewise, unintentional poisoning deaths from
psychotherapeutic drugs, such as sedatives and
anti-depressants, increased 84 percent between
1999 and 2004 (Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, 2007). During 2007 alone, the number
of deaths attributable to opioid analgesics, such
as Oxycontin®, Vicodin® and methadone, nearly
doubled those caused by cocaine and was five times
greater than the number involving heroin (Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention, 2010).
Tire deleterious effect of this abuse is only exacerbated
by the fact that prescription dmgs are widely available,
fairly easy to obtain and relatively inexpensive in
relation to most illegal drugs. Obtaining prescription
dmgs from dealers of illicit drugs or through Internet
purchases are extremely rare. In reported cases,
only six percent of people who use prescription
drugs for non-medical purposes use these as their
National data on hospital emergency room visits
document a dramatic escalation in the number of
admissions for non-medical use of prescription and
over-the-counter dmgs. The number of admissions
grew from 538,247 in 2004 to 971,914 in 2008; an
increase of 8 1 percent. In contrast, there was less than
one percent increase in the number of visits involving
illicit drugs such as cocaine, heroin, marijuana and
methamphetamine (Office of National Drug Control
Policy, 2010b).
A Division of the North Carolina Department of Public Safety
