Term Paper on "America Has Become an Overmedicated Society"

/>Female youths don't generally abuse prescription pain medications at the same rates as male youths, the SAMHSA report shows; to wit, pain relievers, stimulants and methamphetamine among the population 12 years or older, are abused by males in more cases than females. However, in the past year, among youths aged 12 to 17, the growth rate of non-medical use of "any prescription psychotherapeutic drug" was higher among girls than boys (9.9% of females versus 8.2% of males). As for the abuse of tranquilizers last year, girls (2.6%) abused them more than boys (1.9%).

What about dependence of prescription drugs among young people? "Almost 2 million people aged 12 or older" fit into the technical criteria for dependence or abuse of prescription drugs in the past year. About 1.4 million people were addicted to pain relievers, according to SAMHSA; about 573,000 people were addicted to prescription tranquilizers; 470,000 were addicted to prescription stimulants; and 128,000 people were dependent on sedatives.

The states with the highest "prevalence of non-medical prescription pain reliever use among persons 12 or older were Colorado, Kentucky, and Washington State. The states with the lowest rates of prescription drug abuse were Nebraska, Iowa, and South Dakota, the SAMHSA report concluded.

Meanwhile, the National Institute on Drug Abuse also reports that "prescription drug abuse is on the rise in the United States." Some 4.7 million Americans used prescription drugs "non-medically" for the first time in 2002, the report indicates ("Trends in prescription drug abuse"). Albeit this report is 3 years old, the concern among professionals is that older people are abusing (knowingly or unknowingly) prescription drugs. Although people 65 years and older only make up 13% of the American population, they account for "approximately one-third of all medications prescribed" in the U.S. And older people are more likely to be given prescriptions for "long-term" and "multiple" usages, which sometimes leads to "unintentional abuse," the report continues.

"large percentage of older adults" use medications that "are not medically necessary," the NIDA report explains. And a high percentage of older citizens also use "OTC" (over the counter) medicines and dietary supplements that they may not truly need for their healthcare issues. Because of their high rates of "Comorbid illnesses, changes in drug metabolism with age, and the potential for drug interactions," prescription abuse and OTC abuse can have - and often does have - adverse effects that are more serious and come with more dangerous consequences than with younger individuals.

One specific prescription drug that senior citizens should avoid abusing is benzodiazepines, the NIDA report explains; that is because elderly persons who for any reason take benzodiazepines "are at increased risk for cognitive impairment," which can lead to possible falls, which in turn can cause hip injuries and thigh fractures. Older people are generally at risk for balance problems as a rule of thumb, so by combining their loss of good balance with the use of benzodiazepines is a prescription for pain and problems.

Meanwhile, a study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America reported that "about one in five teens has tried a prescription painkiller such as Vicodin or Oxycontin to get high" (CNN, 2006) and parents are not alert to the warning signs.

Steve Pasierb, who is president and CEO of the Partnership, appeared on CNN recently to talk about the findings his organization has developed. The numbers Pasierb reported are significant and parents should be paying closer attention, it seems. For example, Pasierb's organization claims 4.5 million teenagers "have intentionally abused a prescription drug to get high, and about 2.4 million kids have abused over-the-counter cough medicine."

Pasierb also mentioned that the Partnership looked at 7,300 teenagers from grades 7 through 12, and reported that they get prescription drugs from their parents' medicine cabinets, and from friends. But what is also at play here is a "...very, very weak risk behavior in attitudes among teenagers," Pasierb claims. "They don't understand that intentionally abusing these products is as risky as using illicit street drugs." Along with Pasierb on the CNN broadcast was Linda Surks, whose 19-year-old son died of an overdose of prescription drugs in 2003.

She was asked by moderator Soledad O'Brien if she had any idea her son was abusing prescription drugs. "No, we actually had no idea at all," Surks replied. The irony is that Surks is employed in a substance abuse prevention program, so she believes she should have had "some clues." But, her son, Jason, was "very knowledgeable and a bit cagey" and he kept his drug use hidden. He was abusing Xanax, OxyContin, Vicontin, she explained, and it began with Jason as "curiosity, perhaps, and a sense of invincibility..."

There is another side of the story of prescription drug problems in America, troubled young people are being abused by their doctors, according to a story in the Miami Herald (Miller, 2001). Children in foster care in Florida have been given "powerful psychiatric drugs" as a form of "chemical restraints," Miller writes. One of those drugs is Risperdal, which is technically marketed for schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders in adults.

The problem is, this drug has been linked to serious side effects, particularly among young girls. An attorney in Coal Springs, Florida, Andrea L. Moore, who represents many Broward County children who are in foster care wrote to the Department of Children and Families explaining that Risperdal was being mis-prescribed; their diagnosis - although they were unruly at times - did not warrant the use of Risperdal, Moore explained.

But when she questioned the need for "antipsychotic drugs," the doctors then changed the diagnosis to include "either a psychosis or modified an existing diagnosis" to then include some kind of "psychotic features." Two girls who had been prescribed Risperdal had serious side effects; one of them began lactating, although she was not pregnant, Moore explained.

And it isn't just a few children who are hyperactive and lacking in manners that are being given these prescriptions; "many of our foster children are medicated," said Joni Goodman, who is director of Guardian ad Litem program in Miami-Dade County. Those kids are just being prescribed the drug "to make them complaint," one source told Miller, the journalist with the Miami Herald.

Jack Levine is president of the Center for Florida's Children in Tallahassee; he said there is "...a tremendous difference to me between claiming to be caring for children and chemically abusing them."

In a follow-up article on children and prescriptions drugs, journalist Carol Marbin Miller, writing in the Miami Herald, reported that "Almost 600 Florida Medicaid recipients under age 6 were given powerful psychiatric drugs last year with potentially serious side effects" (Miller, 2001). Those drugs are Risperdal, Clozaril, and Zyprexa, and are marketed for illnesses that experts tell Miller are "virtually nonexistent among children their age.

The records uncovered by Miller - from the Agency for Health Care Administration - indicate that "nearly 400 of the children given antipsychotic drugs last year were under age 5." In every case, these children were covered by Medicaid, the federal assistance insurance plan for needy families. Miller reported that only around 1 in 40,000 individuals are afflicted with "childhood schizophrenia," which can be debilitating and can bring on hallucinations, paranoia and delusions (her information came from the National Institute for Mental Health). So the idea of prescribing medications to children for a disease they very rarely get would appear to be an unconscionable act of poor medical judgment; and… READ MORE