One in five high school students in the United States has taken a prescription medication that was not prescribed for them, a new survey shows. Conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the survey covers a variety of risky behaviors among American youth.
The biggest killer drugs in the States right now are legal and have been prescribed. Here’s how easy it is to score and to get hooked. I went to my appointment with “Dr C’ in Los Angeles with a shopping list of the most commonly abused types of drug: pain relievers, tranquillisers, stimulants and sedatives. Beforehand, a local addiction specialist, Bernadine Fried, had briefed me on how to approach your doctor like an addict and still come away with fistfuls of pills.
According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA)’s survey the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, in 2008 15.2 million Americans age 12 and older had taken a prescription pain reliever, tranquilizer, stimulant, or sedative for nonmedical purposes at least once in the year. Addiction to and the abuse of prescription drugs, also known as “pill popping,” has become a national trend.
A RANGE of powerful tranquillisers could be put under strict controls after being linked to a series of high-profile deaths. Home Secretary Alan Johnson has asked the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs to investigate the harm caused by the drugs, which have been linked to the deaths of Michael Jackson, Brittany Murphy and Goldsmith heiress Robyn Whitehead.
Stimulant addiction can be rather tricky; it is probably due to the fact that as opposed to other illegal substances such as cocaine and heroin, the trigger for taking the drugs outside of its primary medical purpose appears “harmless”. Among the adverse and potentially life-threatening effects of stimulant addiction are cardiovascular failure, seizures, and feelings of paranoia.