Alarming Prescription Drug Abuse - Eurad

In the United States,the abuse of prescription drugs is now the second largest substance abuse after cannabis, with 6.2 million people abusing prescription drugs in 2008,reports The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB)

Dramatic increase in the US

In 2010,the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reported that the number of people seeking treatment for addiction to painkillers jumped 400 percent from 1998 to 2008,report The New York Times.

- Prescription drug abuse is our nation’s fastest-growing drug problem,with shocking consequences measured by overdose deaths,emergency room visits,treatment admissions,and increases in youth drug use,said Gil Kerlikowske,Director of National Drug Control Policy and President Obama’s top drug policy adviser.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found there were about 1.2 million visits to emergency rooms involving pharmaceutical drugs in 2009,compared with 627,000 in 2004.

While visits to emergency rooms involving illicit drugs have remained relatively stable at just under 1 million visits per year from 2004 to 2009,visits involving pharmaceutical drugs have almost doubled.This is an increase by 98 percent over the past five years.

One particular concern is the rise in the misuse of prescription drugs among youth in recent years. In the United States, opioid pain relievers are abused primarily by young adults (persons 18-25 years old) and adolescents (persons 12-17 years old).

In a growing number of states, deaths from prescription drugs now exceed those from motor vehicle accidents.The Florida Medical Examiners’ Commission has reported that the abuse of prescription drugs containing an internationally controlled substance (hydrocodone, oxycodone or methadone) was the cause of death of 2,184 individuals in 2008.

Increase in Europe

The US is not alone.In Canada, the majority of opioid drug users abuse prescription drugs. Data for 2005 indicate that most of the users of street drugs in almost all of the main cities in Canada (the exceptions being Vancouver and Montreal) are non-medical users of prescription opioids. It has been estimated that 1-3 per cent of the national population of Canada abuse prescription opioids.

Europe may not be far behind. In many countries,prescription drugs are the second or third most abused category of drugs.

The most often mentioned prescription opioids are buprenorphine and methadone. Other opioids specifically mentioned are morphine, codeine and pethidine, while several Governments have reported abuse of drugs in the category “other opioids”.

The category reported in practically every country as being abused are sedatives and tranquillizers, the substances most often mentioned being the benzodiazepines such as alprazolam, clonazepam, diazepam, flunitrazepam and lorazepam.

Estimates inn Germany show that 1.4million to 1.9million people are addicted to pharmaceutical preparations.

Data collected for the 2007 report of the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD) indicate that,in several countries in Europe,about 15 per cent of the total student population uses sedatives or tranquillizers without a prescription.

In countries in which prescription drug abuse is systematically monitored,prescription drugs have been identified as one of the main drugs involved in overdose deaths.In the United Kingdom,methadone was the principal drug implicated in 27 per cent of drug-related deaths among persons 16-24 years old in 2008.

Lack of data

Despite the fact that the abuse of prescription drugs is a fast-growing global problem,it continues to be difficult to obtain comprehensive data on the actual level of abuse of such drugs,as systematic data collection is lacking in most countries.The information available on the abuse of prescription drugs is mostly limited to anecdotal evidence or to data collected for one or two specific substances (such as morphine or methadone).

There are however measures taken to collect better data in several countries.German authorities have for instance started a programme for monitoring the abuse of pharmaceutical preparations among clients in centres for the treatment of drug addiction.

In France,where a system for the countrywide evaluation of dependence on pharmaceutical preparations has been operating for many years,the abuse of pharmaceutical preparations, particularly those containing benzodiazepines,buprenorphine and methadone,have been reported. Similar reports have been received from the Governments of several Scandinavian countries.

Urgent action needed

The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) calls for urgent Government action against this dangerous trend of prescription drug abuse.INCB president Sevil Atasoy said in a press relase 2010 that greater efforts were needed in preventing drug abuse of all kinds,including prescription drug abuse.

Illegal internet pharmacies,which sell stolen, diverted and counterfeited medicines around the world,are a major supply source for prescription drugs abusers,the INCB said,and it urged governments to monitor them closely or shut them down.

Read the full INCB report here.