In my opinion, addiction to prescription drugs is most common in adults. High school students and younger children do not like doing drugs. One reason is because children in high school are more focused on their education and the younger children are focused on playing and being a child. Secondly, they are under supervision from their parents and teachers when they are home and at school therefore, high school students and children don’t have many opportunities to do drugs. Also, misuse of prescription drugs is not that harmful because they are not as addictive as other drugs.
Prescription drugs are just as addictive as illegal drugs and are easier to acquire. The only difference is that if you have health insurance, you are only paying a co-payment for your medication and not the street price for it. The more you use a prescription drug the more of a tolerance your body builds up to it, thus leading to an increase in dosage and a possible addiction. There are many prescription drugs available today and some classes of drugs are more abused than others such as opioids, central nervous systems depressants, and stimulants.
The most commonly abused classes of prescription drugs are opioids, central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and stimulants. Opioids are used in the medical field to treat pain, diarrhea, and coughing. Opioids originate from the opium poppy and some are considered narcotics.
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Opioids affect the body by attaching to receptors in the brain and blocking the transmission of pain messages to the brain (NIDA, 2001, p 5). Morphine and codeine are the most popular opioid prescription drugs. Morphine, in small doses, acts as a sedative or pain reliever but in larger doses, acts as an anesthesia. Codeine is much milder than morphine and is used in cough-suppression syrups. The symptoms of withdrawal from opioids are restlessness, muscle and bone pain, insomnia, diarrhea, vomiting, cold flashes, and involuntary leg movements.
Studies show that, “women are more likely than men to be prescribed an abusable prescription drug, particularly narcotics and anti-anxiety drugs” (NIDA, 2001, p.7). All through life, women are taught there is a pill to fix most problems. For example, if you have stomach cramps related to premenstrual syndrome, you are told to take Midol. If you do not want children right away, you are told to take an oral birth control pill. Women are known to visit their doctors for ailments sooner than men and usually leave with a new prescription. The frequency of popping pills daily can be habit forming, and if given a strong prescription, can lead to abuse.
Prescription drugs can be addictive or a dependency for people; it is just a matter of knowing the difference. Addiction to drugs means you are dependent on a drug to fulfill your physical and emotional needs. While a dependency means your body developed a tolerance for the drug and needs the drug to function because if you stop taking it then you will have withdrawal symptoms (Geier, 2003). Many people do not get over their addictions successfully and often die trying.
