Drug Abuse

Drug Addiction: Prescription Drugs

Everybody knows what addiction is. It is a continuing intense need for a certain something: alcohol, food, cigarettes – you name it, you can get addicted to it. It is the unnecessarily strong need to have the item you are craving for. When you talk about drug addiction, the usual idea that pops into our minds are those drugs that can be obtained through drug dealers and are illegally bought and sold. What some people do not know is that drugs or medication that we ingest to help us feel better or to cure certain ailments are emerging as substances that can also be abused. These are often mood-altering drugs like sedatives or pain killers that give people that feeling of being detached from the world or being in a state of euphoria. These drugs are either taken in tablet form, via injections, or as pills. Whatever form they take, prescription drugs are now becoming a rising force to be reckoned with in the fight against drug addiction.

What Prescription Drugs are People Getting Addicted To

There are quite a number of prescription drugs that can be abused by their users and are available with a written prescription. While some may be a refillable prescription, there are prescriptions that can only be used once and require a new prescription for every purchase. These drugs are divided into five categories by the DEA or Drug Enforcement Agency and are called Schedules.

The first group of these drugs includes those that are illegal and have no medical indications whatsoever. This list carries such notorious drugs like ecstasy, heroin, PCP, LSD, and marijuana, among others. These are some of the most dangerous drugs around.

The second group that the DEA compiled includes drugs like codeine, morphine, amphetamine, methadone, methamphetamine, and even cocaine. These drugs have some medical usages and can only be obtained by a written or typed prescription. Prescriptions for these drugs have to be signed by the doctor prescribing it and are non-refillable prescriptions. These drugs exhibit a very high potential for addiction with severe mental and physical dependence as the effect it may have on a user.

The third of drugs listed by the DEA includes medications like Vicodin, Butisol, Plegine, as well as Anabolic Steroids of any kind, codeine, and even testosterone. These drugs can result in a medium to low physical dependence and a rather high mental or psychological dependence for the person. Prescriptions can be either issued orally or written down and is refillable in a six-month time frame for up to five refills.

The fourth division of the list that the DEA generated includes drugs that cause a somewhat limited psychological or physical dependence, although they are still potentially addictive and dangerous. Some of the drugs in this list include Valium, Ativan, Xanax, Doral, Luminal, and a whole lot more. While these may be categorized as lower drug types in the list of addictive drugs, they can still carry a certain amount of repercussions with the constant intake addiction to them causes.

The final list of drugs in the DEA’s watch-list for addictive medication include Lomotil, Codeine combined with other non-narcotic medicines like Robitussin and Actifed as well as Buprenorphine that are found in Buprenex and Temgesic. These drugs do not require a prescription to obtain them and have a pretty low level of addiction potential.

What are the Signs of Addiction?

One of the signs of having an addiction to a certain prescribed medication is the person’s inability to stop himself from using the medication. Some of the more tell-tale signs of a person being addicted to these drugs include the sudden feeling of confidence, belligerence, extreme changes in activity which could include prolonged hours of sleep after bursts of hyperactivity, and even hallucinations or wild imaginings. Taking a person off such medications and seeing them go through certain withdrawal symptoms like excessive sweating and shaking can also alert you to a person’s being addicted to the drugs they have been taking.

While people might say that addicts are people with a weak will, there are actually people whose brains react differently to drugs than others, making them more prone to addiction than others. Another reason why some people get addicted to their prescribed medication is also due to the re-arranging of the way the brain runs after a prolonged use to the substance. This “re-wiring” of the brain alters the way the mind processes logic and makes it hard for a person to listen to reason.

Who Are Prone to Becoming Addicts?

While we may believe that everybody is susceptible to becoming an addict, there are a few factors that make some people more susceptible than others when it comes to becoming a drug dependent. Some of these factors include fatigue or overwork, alcohol dependency, a condition that requires pain-killing medication and a family background or history of addiction. It has also been noted that younger people, women and the elderly are also very prone to drug dependency and addiction.

How to Treat Drug Addiction?

Drug addiction is a serious problem that requires treatments to not only take the person away from his dependency but to also cleanse him of the drugs still coursing through his body. Such treatments are available for those people who want a change in their lives for the better and for those who want to be able to live their lives without having to look towards these chemical substances to help them cope with the pressures of everyday life.

Some of the available treatments that people can use include medical detoxification or detox and in-patient treatments. Detox usually helps a person overcome their addiction by getting them to give up these substances voluntarily or going cold turkey and coping with it in an institution that monitors their withdrawal symptoms. In-Patient treatment lasts longer and is done in an exclusive treatment facility that not only gets the patient to stop using these drugs but also educates them to the further dangers of continuing usage. There are also other treatments for drug dependents aside from these two more common ones.

These treatments are designed to help individuals cope with their addictions while slowly cleansing their bodies of the remaining toxins the drugs have left behind. Treatments are also dependent on what fits each individual; therefore, choosing a treatment that can maximize the person’s detachment from their dependency is essential to a person’s fast recovery.

Prescription Drug Abuse: Let Karla Cool Off

National Institute on Drug Abuse video about prescription drug abuse, Choose Your Path series. You decided to let Karla cool off before talking to her about Mario. For a text-only version, see teens.drugabuse.gov Comments on this video are allowed in accordance with our comment policy: newmedia.hhs.gov
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Prescription Drug Abuse: Obama drug strategy focuses on vets, women and college kids
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