Types of commonly abused prescription drugs include: depressants (tranquillisers/ sedatives), stimulants (energy providing drugs), opioids and morphine derivatives (painkillers) and antidepressants.
Three times more Americans die every year from taking prescription medication than they do from taking illicit drugs.
Nearly 20 per cent of people in the United States have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons.
The number of teens and young adults (ages 12 to 25) who were new abusers of prescription painkillers grew from 400,000 in the mid-1980s to 2 million in 2000.
Prescription drugs are the second most commonly abused category of drugs, ahead of cocaine and heroin.
See more about prescription medication addiction in issue 3 of Uncovered magazine, buy here.
Signs of addiction
For more information on Addictions, please visit:
- Addiction - How Much is Too Much
- Smoking - How to Quit for Life
- Smoking - What Happens When you Giving up Smoking
- Smoking - Quick Facts
- Addiction - Prescription Medication, Signs of Addiction
- Sex Addiction - Dependence or Desire?
- My Son Blake Fielder Civil
- What is Addiction
- Causes of Addiction
- Symptoms of Addiction
