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Prescription Drug Abuse Destroys Millions of Lives
By Stacy Barnes | May 17, 2010
More and more drug users are turning away from street drugs and using prescription drugs to get high. This has contributed to a high street value for pain pills and many individuals are selling their pills for big profit.
According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, prescription drugs are second to marijuana as the drug of choice for today’s teens. These teens have reported that if they were to get caught, there would be less shame attached to the use of prescription drugs than to street drugs. They feel prescription drugs are a safer alternative to drugs typically sold by a drug dealer.
There is nothing safer about prescription drugs. They are just as addictive as street drugs. Prescription opiates like hydrocodone are synthetic heroin, and the brain does not differentiate between legal or illegal drugs. The high is the same, and the eventual drug dependence, both physical and emotional, is the same.
The Obama administration, recognizing the importance of raising awareness and prevention on these matters, has proposed a 6.5 percent increase for prevention and treatment in the fiscal 2011 budget.
R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in announcing the budget increase: “With drug use accounting for tens of billions of dollars per year in health care costs, and drug overdoses ranking second only to motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of accidental death, the nation needs to discard the idea that enforcement alone can eliminate our drug problem.”
It’s about time this Country has decided to prioritize a public health policy response to drug dependence and abuse.
Topics: Drug Addiction, News, drug dependence, heroin, hydrocodone, marijuana, opiates, pain pills, painkillers, prescription drugs, street drugs | Comments Off
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