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More people, especially young adults, are abusing powerful prescription drugs. While prescription abuse is going up, use of other illegal drugs is not.
A report based on a series of nationwide surveys shows use of prescription pain pills like hydrocodone, oxycodone, and morphine among young adults went up from 4.1 percent in 2002 to 4.6 percent in 2007. The report released today by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) says 1.5 million of these young adults used prescription pain relievers nonmedically in the past month in 2007.
Researcher Dr. Westley Clark said, "They don't see the risk of overdose. They don't see the complications that can occur until, of course, those things do happen down the road."
Clark says that could be why the rates of use of illicit drugs, like marijuana, seem to be down.
He also says part of the issue is the ease of access to the medication. "They simply put the medications in the medicine cabinet or someone says, ‘Gee, I have a hurt or a pain,' and people share their medications," he said.
Clark says males tend to be more at risk than females, but the trend isn't very targeted. "There is no particular demographic. The issue seems to be he or she who has access," he said.
The report showed encouraging findings among youths aged 12 to 17. Their abuse of pain relievers declined from 3.2 percent in 2002 to 2.7 percent in 2007. Use among adults aged 26 or older increased from 1.3 percent to 1.6 percent.
E-mail: mrichards@ksl.com
