Shelby Adams December 5, 2013 English 211D

Prescription Drug Abuse in Society

Purpose
This is a report on my research on the effects of prescription drug abuse on society and how physicians play a role amongst it.

Summary
When looking at a society, you must analyze all aspects of it including the issue of prescription drug abuse. When looking for a cause to this nationwide epidemic, there is no concrete answer. Both the patients and physicians play an important role. Patients who are seeking drugs are in need of help, and this is a growing people. More people now than ever before especially young adult, are creating addictive futures for themselves. I feel as though its a job of our society to help the community as a whole better understand the effects of prescription drugs and better educate them on the topic. Physicians play a key part in this. With having the power to hand out drugs in a rational manner, they hold the key to a better controlled problem. With more understanding of the issue and what the problem is at hand, physicians can better educate themselves on how to deal with this in the workplace.

Introduction
Prescription drug abuse is an immense problem all over the world especially in the United States. The difference between using prescription drugs and abusing them is when taken in larger amounts then prescribed or taking them to experience the high. 100 people die from drug overdoses every day in the United States (CDC, 5). With this number on the rise, many factors are to blame, but not one more then another. Between the addict themselves, to the physician, to the media and society

Shelby Adams December 5, 2013 English 211D around them, the only way to help reduce that number of deaths per day is through providing people with support and education.

Methods
When conducting my research, I have conducted several different types. I attended a lecture by Dr. Lehtinen, who spoke on the drug abuse problem that is growing in society and his efforts to reduce the issue here in Michigans Upper Peninsula. Then I interview Dr. Carrie Bollmann, who runs a quick care clinic in Boyne City, MI. I spoke to her regarding how she deals with this issue and how she as a physician personally deals with the issue. I also searched scholarly databases to find relevant articles on the problem of Prescription drug abuse. These articles outline many possible cause to epidemic outbreak and also possible solutions to the problem.

Results
Scholarly Research
Prescription drug abuse is a growing problem across the world especially in the United States. Americans, constituting only 4% of the worlds population, but consume 80% of the global supply of opioids, 99% of the global supply of hydrocodone, and two-thirds of the worlds illegal drugs (Laxmaiah, 1). This is a growing problem. Without any implementations, the prescription drug problem will become and epidemic as if it hasnt already. The problem of prescription drug abuse does not lay responsively in the hand of one person but a community as a whole. Some experts believe that intensive drug advertising on television and in magazines has encouraged patients to ask their doctors for prescriptions for specific drugs, especially pain medicines and sleep aids (Davison, 2). With this being said, this is how us as a society does not help the problem of prescription drugs but helps to add to it. People are starting to believe that every problem they encounter can be fixed and answer with

Shelby Adams December 5, 2013 English 211D prescription drugs. With all the advertisements and description of the drugs to the public it allows them to know the effect of the drug and be more likely to ask for a prescription of that drug when not really needed. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University concluded that prescription controlled drugs continue to be as easy to buy over the Internet as candy, and anyone, including children, can readily obtain, without a prescription, highly addictive controlled substances from Internet drug pushers as long as a person has a credit card (Manchikant, 1). With this easy access to very strong drugs how can our society function as a whole? When children can access such dangerous pills with the ease of a credit card, what has our society came too. These dangers not only effect the adolescents future but there family. The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) found that between 1992 and 2003, the number of people abusing prescription drugs increased 94% (Manchikant, 1). With increasing numbers like that, the age of users is getting lower, creating a larger problem for parents and schools to properly educate students on the dangers that fall along with the use of prescription drugs. A society as a whole needs to take action in order for the youth of our world to understand and gain knowledge on how to avoid drug abuse. When looking from a future physicians stand point, I believe that a huge factor of this epidemic is the lack of knowledge in physicians. Few physicians have received training (either on the job or during medical school) on how to prevent, identify, and address substance abuse (Haglund, 4). With medicine being a large part of a physicians career, its vital to have all physicians trained to deal with addicts and how to properly prescribe drugs, when some patients could be doctor shopping. These drugs were involved in 14,800 overdose deaths

Shelby Adams December 5, 2013 English 211D in 2008, more than cocaine and heroin combined (CDC, 5). That number is over the total population here at Northern Michigan University. The epidemic is on the rise and without any serious actions taken, that number will rise.

Dr. Lehtinen
When listening to Dr. Lehtinen talk, it was almost depressing to hear about the number of adolescents and adults that do encounter a drug problem sometime throughout their lives. Some children start abusing drugs at ages younger than 10 years old. According to Dr. Lehtinen addiction is a chronic brain disease. With that being said, it means that once a person tries a drug then then become a user and dont have control over what is to come. Addiction is a disease not a choice, which leads addicts down a progressive long and fatal road. In the teen population, 8400 new teens use per day, with half of them being under the age of 16 (Lehtinen, The Addictive Brain). As being a college student, drugs across campus are a daily enouncement. College and high school students begin to use mostly to help deal with stress. When students arent able to handle the daily stress of homework, how do drugs benefit them in any such way? This inhibits their way to function as a humans and deal with things naturally. The use of drugs in teens is the most preventable out of all users.

Dr. Carrie Bollmann, MD

When speaking to Dr. Bollmann about her input on prescription drugs in society, It gave me a look at a physicians opinion. Although physicians do not play the largest role in prescription drug abuse, they are a key factor in prescribing it. Somewhere down the line a physician had to initially

Shelby Adams December 5, 2013 English 211D prescribe the drugs to a patient, whether or not it was an appropriate prescription. When people come to me with chronic pain, its in my nature to want to help them (Bollmann). Many people come to doctors and complain of chronic pain even if the pain isnt present. This presents a problem for physicians in the case of prescribing prescriptions. Pain is a thing that cannot be exactly diagnosed. It varies patient to patient. This makes the choice us physicians face daily of evaluating who should and shouldnt receive drugs complicated. (Bollmann). Physicians evaluate different aspects of whether or not prescription drugs would be necessary. Before I prescribe any perception drugs, I explore the option of physical therapy and natural methods. I also check all previous medical records for any indication of doctor shopping and a list of all previous prescribed medications (Bollmann). Some physicians dont take all precautions necessary, which is why part of the prescription drug epidemic falls in the hands. New programs including the MAPS program allows physicians to better monitor the different medications and doctors the patient has visited. There should be more training for physicians in the subject of addiction. Having a more clear understanding of the signs of addiction, will help for us to make more clear prescription choices (Bollmann).

Future
More Universal MAPS programs that allow physicians to track medical reports of all patients being seem in there clinic or hospital setting. School programs that allow adolescents to see the danger associated with prescription drug abuse and how it effects not only a person but a society. More clinical studying for physicians and how they can better pervert the case of over prescribing and how to deal with people who need attention for abuse issues

Shelby Adams December 5, 2013 English 211D

Conclusion
As a result of my research, the problem of prescription drug abuse needs to be addressed before any more lives are lost. The abuse of prescription drugs across all ages is on the rise and has a traumatic effect on society as a whole. The simple task of just being educated on the subject matter at hand, could make all the difference.

Work Cited
1. Manchikant, Laxmaiah, MD. "National Drug Control Policy and Prescription Drug Abuse: Facts and Fallacies." CFBHN.org. University of Louisville, Ain Management Center of Paducah, KY, 2007. Web. 19 Nov. 2013. 2. "Prescription drug abuse." Tish Davidson, AM. The Gale Encyclopedia of Children's Health: Infancy through Adolescence. Ed. Jacqueline L. Longe. 2nd ed. Detroit: Gale, 2011. 4 vols. 3. Dr. John Lehtinen MD ;The Addictive Brain; Addiction Medicine Specialist; October 23, 2013 4. Haglund, Erika. "Prescription Drug Abuse." North Dakota State University, n.d. Web. 6 Nov. 2013. 5. CDC. "Policy Impact: Prescription Painkiller Overdoses." Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 02 July 2013. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.