Description: Prescription Drug Abuse - Facts and Statistics as well as prevention of prescription drug abuse and treatment options. Prescription drug use warning signs, causes, statistics, prevention, and treatment. Includes most common prescription drug abuse.
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According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) more than six million people over the age of 12 will begin abusing prescription drugs. While the abuse of illicit drugs goes down, more and more people begin to abuse "legal" prescription drugs. This is a fast-growing trend in the United States. Even more alarming is the fact that young people aged 15 to 24 is the fastest growing demographic of prescription drug abuse.
Prescription drugs are easy to abuse because they are so easy to find. And it's not just getting them from the doctor. The National Institute on Drug Abuse reports that most people who abuse prescription drugs get them from relatives or friends. This can be done as people share their prescriptions with others - or even as abusers steal them from medicine cabinets or purses.
Another factor that contributes to prescription drug abuse in America is the fact that so many people think that because medications are legal, they are safe. Unfortunately, this is not true, despite the perception. Prescription drugs are only safely used by those to whom they have been prescribed, and only when following directions. In fact, these so-called "legal" drugs are not actually legal when they are not taken according to physician instructions.