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Prescription Pill Abuse Facts

Prescription drug abuse is a steadily growing problem in the United States. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health in 2006, 16.2 million Americans (12 and older) took a prescription drug for a nonmedical purpose in the previous year.

  1. Adolescent Abuse

    • The National Institute on Drug Abuse's 2007 Monitoring the Future survey reported that up to 9.6 percent of 12th-grade students abused Vicodin and 7.5 percent abused stimulants.

    Commonly Abused Prescription Drugs

    • The most commonly abused prescription drugs include opioids (Vicodin, Oxycontin), central nervous system depressants (Valium, Xanax) and stimulants (Ritalin, Adderall).

    Risks

    • Risks of abusing opioids and stimulants can include addiction, overdose, seizures, respiratory depression, death and dangerous combination effects when mixed with alcohol or other drugs. Central nervous system depressants are extremely addictive and have a dangerous withdrawal that requires the supervision of a doctor.

    Research

    • The National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) is currently using human and animal studies to help doctors treat future patients effectively while limiting the risk of abuse. NIDA is also researching ways to prevent chronic pain patients from becoming addicted to their medications.

    Treatment

    • The options for treating prescription opioid addiction are naltrexone and buprenorphine combined with behavioral counseling. Central nervous system depressants require a medically supervised withdrawal and addiction to stimulants is usually treated with behavior therapy.

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