Prescription Drug Abuse in Linden, NJ

America’s entrancement with the idea of a pill for every problem has deteriorated into a literal epidemic of prescription drug abuse. Life-changing and health-restoring medicines intended to relieve pain and suffering have been hijacked for the purposes of recreation, experimentation, and self-medication in an era that has seen prescription drug abuse rise to the second-leading cause of accidental death in the U.S. Out of the millions of people suffering from prescription drug abuse disorders, only an estimated 1 in 10 are receiving treatment. How did this problem develop, and what can be done about it? These are questions that expert panels all across America are busy trying to answer.

The Rise of Prescription Drug Abuse

As long as drugs have been known to mankind, there have been those who abused them. But surely there is more to the story, when during the two decades leading up to 2010, the number of deaths associated with prescription drug abuse more than quadrupled. Much of the problem lies with the fact that prescription drugs are so easy to obtain for those who wish to abuse them. Many homes have kitchen drawers and medicine cabinets stocked full of those orange bottles with white caps, making them fair game even for children and teens, for whom drug abuse is a particularly significant problem.

The blame, however, goes farther than the people who misuse medications, and even farther than those who receive the prescriptions. Many of the driving factors of our current problem with prescription drug abuse lie within the framework of our healthcare system, among doctors, pharmacists, politicians, and pharmaceutical companies and their representatives. Not only are potent medications prescribed and dispensed with unnecessary liberty, but such behavior has even been encouraged on a public level, with Congress declaring a “decade of pain control and research” beginning in 2001. What started out as a concerted effort to relieve suffering has arguably, and tragically, caused as much pain as it has alleviated.

Dealing With an Epidemic

It’s a complicated issue that isn’t helped by oversimplification. Part of the challenge in dealing with prescription drug abuse is preventing medical care from being withheld from those who legitimately are in need. Balancing the treatment of actual pain and suffering with the potential for prescriptions to be abused creates something of a “perfect storm” for doctors and other professional health care providers. Unfortunately, developing the ability to recognize the risk factors for abuse, as well as its signs and symptoms, is not consistently among the types of training that medical doctors receive, a problem that is representative of the top-down pattern of failure that is currently enabling this epidemic of prescription drug abuse.

More intensive patient reviews, more referrals to specialists, and more time spent educating patients are all part of efforts to combat these failures. As better systems and policies are introduced and integrated with one another within the overall scope of public health care, we will hopefully begin to track a downward trend in prescription drug abuse.

If you would like to find out more about Drug Detox Centers Linden, or have questions about prescription drug abuse, we hope you will contact us at (908) 368-4232 today.