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Painkiller Abuse Has Quadrupled in the Last Decade
An
article from the Associated Press Oct. 31, 2003, reports that according to
government figures the number of Americans who begin misusing painkillers
each year has almost quadrupled from 1990 to 2001. The article noted that
the conservative radio commentator, Rush Limbaugh, brought this story to
the forefront with his announcement that he was addicted to pain
medication and was checking himself into a treatment facility.
The AP story noted the
seriousness of the problem by highlighting that most patients who become
addicted have taken more medication than their doctors prescribed.
Additionally, addiction can take hold quickly, within weeks, for some
drugs. According to the federal government’s Survey on Drug Use and
Health, an estimated 6.2 million Americans, or 2.6 percent of adults,
misuse prescription drugs of all kinds. About 4.4 million of them misuse
pain relievers, taking more than their prescribed amount. The rate of
full-blown addiction is about 0.3 percent, but patients who don’t follow
their prescriptions are considered at risk. The rate of abuse has risen
dramatically for such drugs. About 2.4 million Americans began misusing
prescription pain relievers in 2001, almost quadrupling from 628,000 in
1990, according to the federal government’s Survey on Drug Use and Health.
While Limbaugh joins a
long list of celebrities who became hooked on prescription drugs, such as
actress Marilyn Monroe, pop entertainer Michael Jackson, country singer
Tammy Wynette and football player Brett Favre among them, the article
notes that many more ordinary Americans succumb to this kind of addiction.
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