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Alicia Olson
Jennifer Friends
English 103-002
1 May 2012
Prescription drugs: Most dangerous?
Every school age child in the United States knows about the evils of cocaine, marijuana,
heroin, methamphetamine, and alcohol. They have been educated through programs such as the
Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) program to beware the schoolyard pusher at the
edge of the playground and to not give into peer pressure. What they have not been educated
about is the use of prescription drug abuse, and the few regulations the government has put in
place to keep these drugs monitored.
“Prescription drug abuse is the use of a prescription medication in a way not intended by
the prescribing doctor” (Mayo Clinic Staff). Deaths from prescription drug overdoses are on the
rise in the United States. According to Leonard and Daniel, workers for the Center for Disease
Control and Prevention; “Drug overdose mortality nearly doubled in the United States from
1999-2004, with most of the increase due to prescription drug overdose.” Prescription drug abuse
is something parents and schools do not pay much attention to, although apart from motor
vehicle accidents, the number of deaths surpasses all other types of unintentional injuries, and
over 26,000 people die from non-suicidal drug overdoses each year (Paulozzi and Stier). Clearly,
prescription drug abuse is a significant problem nationwide, and is beginning to overshadow the
illegal drug problem. Although illegal drug abuse has been around for a long time, prescription
drug abuse is a very recent problem. The issue has shifted from illegal drugs to prescription
drugs, and both teens and adults are abusing these drugs. Also
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because of such recent addictions to these drugs, the abuser goes through medicine cabinets to
look for any drug they can find. The abuser can get their hands on many different kinds of drugs
there are parties held specifically for prescription drugs. Specifically, this recent problem needs
to be remedied by eliminating the easy access to these drugs, and the federal government needs
to implement more regulations to prohibit accessibility to these drugs.
Some people argue that illegal drug abuse is a greater problem than prescription drug
abuse. Prescription drugs can vary from over-the-counter cough medicine to controlled
substances. As a result there are more drugs to abuse compared to illegals drugs, which only
contains a limited number, such as cocaine, marijuana, heroin, methamphetamine, etc. Illegal
drugs are killing people everywhere around the world but prescription drugs are killing more
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people than illegal drugs. Prescription drug overdose deaths now exceed the number of illegal
drug abuse deaths per year (WebMD).
Fig. 2: Opioid Analgesic, Cocaine, Heroin graph. Graph copied from NIDA
Prescription drug abuse is a recent and growing problem around the world. “By 2006,
opioid analgesics were involved in roughly 40 per-cent of all poisoning deaths, whereas heroin,
and illicit drug, was involved in only 6 per-cent” (Paulozzi, Stier). Although prescription drug
abuse deaths are leading illegal drug abuse deaths in the world, physicians’ knowledge of this
issue is remarkably low (Anupam, Goldman, Foster, Califano 848). Physicians have a lack of
knowledge with online pharmacies, and are unaware that their prescriptions can be used online to
receive more drugs than they need (Anupam, Goldman, Foster, Califano 848). “Illegitimate
online pharmacies have traditionally come in 2 forms, each selling ordinary prescription
medications and controlled substances without a prescription originating from a typical
physician-patient interaction” (Anupam, Goldman, Foster, Califano 848). Because of these
online pharmacies that allow abusers to have easy access to these drugs, we are having a problem
with prescription drugs. Federal regulators and law enforcement have been trying to regulate the
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purchasing of prescription drugs online. “The GAO (General Accounting Office) identified 8
illegitimate online pharmacies that shipped hydrocodone from U.S.-based pharmacies to a GAO
investigation purporting to be a patient without any communication between the investigator and
the physician who ultimately prescribed the medication” (Anupam, Goldman, Foster, Califano
848). While this information is valuable, the government just recently started looking at online
pharmacies and trying to regulate them to cut down the number of overdose deaths per year.
While it is a good that the GAO is aware of the problem and is trying to address it, not
enough is being done to control the abuses. As the system currently stands, online
pharmacies provide easy access to a variety of controlled substances with limited
government oversight. This lack of oversight has allowed consumers to circumvent the
system.
Stockpiling pills is the practice of hoarding pills to maintain a supply for future use..
Those who store pills often do so for future misuse, or selling of the drug. Stockpiling is made
easy because of online pharmacies and physicians overprescribing pills. It is easy to stockpile
pills because of such informal access to these pills. Online pharmacies are a problem in the
world, and since abusers can use prescriptions more than once with online pharmacies, it is easy
for them to get as many pills as they want. Another way it is easy for abusers to stockpile pills is
because physicians often overprescribe pills. A recent case in Irvine, California exemplifies this
problem. After an autopsy was performed revealing a victim passed away due to a prescription
drug overdose, the victim’s physician was investigated. It was found that he had prescribed 300
anti-anxiety pills, and over 700 tablets of another drug (CBS Los Angeles). Responsible
physicians do not do this. Physicians need to be aware of how many pills they are prescribing to
a patient and also how many different prescriptions they are writing. In addition, and most
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importantly physicians need to be held accountable for the number of prescriptions they are
writing and how many pills they are giving to each patient they see. Drug abusers, who see
physicians regularly and have prescriptions for a drug, also may lie to their physician that they
are having more pain than what they are to get a higher dosage. The unreliable patient makes it
hard for a physician to notice when it does not happen regularly, but it is something a physician
needs to be aware of and watch for. A way to regulate a situation like this would be simply
collecting the old prescription before giving a new one. Also an abuser who cannot get the pills
from the same doctor may go doctor shopping.
Another method prescription drug abusers implement is the practice of doctor shopping.
“’Doctor shopping’ refers to when an individual visits several different doctors to obtain
prescriptions for the same medications” (Drug Addiction). Doctor shopping allows the abuser to
get many pills that he or she wants to get. Doctor shopping is a felony and can is punishable by
up to five years in prison (Drug Addiction). Doctor shopping can then lead to the practice of
stockpiling since it is stress-free for the patient to get multiple drugs. Another problem with
stockpiling is that it creates a supply of drugs that can be illegally resold making what was once a
legal drug an illegal “street” drug.
The lack of effective controls and increasing ease of access to prescription drugs has
benefited the illegal drug trade, and has been a boon to illegal drug trafficking. “More than 2.1
million people a year begin abusing prescription drugs, compared to just over two million that
begin to abuse marijuana” (Narconnon International). While illegal drug abuse is a problem in
humanity, prescription drug abuse is a greater problem and the market in which the drugs are
sold is growing, which makes it easier for the abuser to have access to the drugs. Pharmacies
make it easy for drug abusers to get the drug that they want and think they need. Also a market
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such as the black market makes it easy for drug abusers to receive the drugs that they want.
According to dictionary.com the black market is “the illicit buying and selling of goods in
violation of legal price controls.” This allows the addicts to get the drugs that they want for a
reasonable price, and without discussion. The black market is just one example of how abusers
have easy access due to unregulated systems.
The government needs to regulate online pharmacies, and prescription drugs in general
more than they do now. Although there are not many regulations the Ryan Haight Online
Pharmacy Consumer Protection Act was put into place in 2008. “This law-named for Ryan
Haight, who died at the age of 18 years after overdosing on prescription narcotics that were
purchased online-prohibits the distribution of controlled prescription medications over the
internet without a prescription from a physician who directly examined the patient” (Anupam,
Goldman, Foster, Califano 849). Although this act is trying to prevent online pharmacies, more
programs or acts like this need to be put in place to help with the regulations of online
pharmacies. The government pays little attention to online pharmacies and how many
prescriptions physicians are giving out.
Before a drug is put onto the market, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has to
ensure that the drug is safe and effective (Engdahl 19). Another organization involved in the
oversight of prescription drugs is the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP). This
program is an electronic database that collects data on the substances being distributed in a
certain state (Office of Diversion Control). This program is currently in place in thirty-seven
states. The other thirteen states do not have a PDMP, but eleven of them have enacted legislation
to establish a PDMP. These are only two agencies that the government has put in place to
address concerns of prescription drug abuse. Prescription drug abuse is a severe problem, and the
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government needs to have stricter regulations, stronger oversight, and greater accountability for
these drugs and the people who prescribe them. Without this there is greater ease of access to
these drugs. While there are some programs in place to help regulate prescription drug abuse, the
government could put many other programs into place to prevent the deaths of forty people per
day in the United States (WebMD). Consequently, the government needs to have better
regulations on prescription drugs and have better oversight to keep this problem to a minimum.
Prescription drug abuse is a significant problem. People who are abusing these drugs
have easy access to them because of online pharmacies, doctor shopping, stockpiling, and
because there are very few regulations on prescription drugs. The government needs to have
stronger oversight, stricter regulations, and more accountability to those who are prescribing.
Because this kind of abuse is such a recent and growing problem in the world, we need to better
control how we give out prescriptions and regulate how many prescriptions one patient gets.
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