Nonmedical Use of Prescription Drugs Among Young People: A Growing Global Concern

Making prescription drug available while preventing nonmedical use is one of the greatest challenges that every country face. This was the findings that a perspective article published by Silvia Martins, MD, PH.D revealed.

According to Science Daily, the article was based on a research that revealed an increase rate of death worldwide due to prescription opioids to as much as 550 percent based on the country and the time. The research, which was published in World Psychiatry, the journal of the World Psychiatric Association, cited the years 2000 to 2014, where there was a 200 percent increase in deaths as a result of opioid use overdose.

The findings were based from data gathered from school and college-based surveys from Europe, Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East. In the US, the collected data came from the 2014 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Data from Europe revealed three-quarters of overdose deaths and 3.5 percent of all deaths in the 15 to 39 year old bracket were caused by prescription opioids.

Medical Xpress showed statistics that 6 percent of 12 to 17 year old and 12 percent of 18 to 25 years old used opioids for nonmedical use. Meanwhile, data from the latest US school and college based surveys revealed that 13 percent of students in the 12^th grade used prescription drugs for non-medical purposes.

The website of News Locker defined nonmedical prescription drug use as using a substance without prescription or other reasons outside of what the medicine was designed for. As the non-medical use of prescription opioids in the youth continues to rise, the more it becomes a problem of a global scale. When used for non-medical purposes, an individual may experience respiratory suppression and overdose. It may also cause irregular heart rate, hypertension, cardiovascular system failure, and seizures.It can also cause suicidal tendencies and psychiatric disorders.

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prescription drugs, opioid abuse, opioid drugs overdose

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