US prescription drug abusers top 15 million- study

[Eugene]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050707/hl_nm/addiction_dc

US prescription drug abusers top 15 million- study

2 hours, 42 minutes ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans who admit abusing
prescription drugs nearly doubled to over 15 million from 1992 to
2003, with abuse among teens tripling, according to a new study
released on Thursday.

The report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at
Columbia University suggested that more Americans were abusing
controlled prescription drugs than cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants
and heroin combined.

~snip~

The substances most likely to be abused were opioids, or pain
relievers like OxyContin or Vicodin; central nervous system
depressants such as Valium or Xanax; stimulants including
Ritalin or Adderall and anabolic-androgenic steroids like Anadrol
or Equipoise.

~snip~

more...

[SpiralHawk]

1. I wonder what Rush Limbaugh will say about this?

But not too much.

[nannah]

2. prescription drug abuse = huge profits for the pharmaceutical industry

thus the law enforcement focus is on drugs that don't profit the phameceuticals.

[phillinweird247]

3. Oxy hysteria

do you think if they didn't hyped it so much that it would still be such a huge problem.
after all Oxycontin is just time release oxycodone which people have used safely (and abused) for years.

[Voltaire99]

4. There's abuse, and there's "abuse"

Take every case of media flatulence about drugs with a grain of salt.

Drug "abuse" in these puritanical times is defined as merely thinking about getting high in lieu of working, praying, shopping or voting Republican.

And therein you find the reason America hates drugs (and secretly loves them).