Prescription Drugs In The Modern Society
Illegal drugs were always deemed as somewhat of a curse of the lower class members of the modern society. People are used to believe that these drugs are used only by those individuals, who have very poor living conditions and by those who no longer may be considered people at all.
Well, it is pretty ironic, seeing how the drugs that are now being deemed as illegal were sold in pharmacies all over the nation only over a century ago. That is right – cocaine, morphine, heroine – all of those terrible, detrimental as well as habit forming drugs were used as painkillers and nerve calmers. Doctors used to prescribe those drugs to a large number of patients and their side effects were all considered relatively few and mild. Then again, there was time when the doctors were sure that cigarette smoking helps you in clearing the lungs. As a result, the society was creating new drug addicts who could not live without a new dose of their favorite remedy. And of course, being under the influence of drugs while driving, it is considered as DUI offense.
With that said, it just goes to show that even the most qualified and experienced healthcare professionals can be wrong as well as genuinely negligent. Unfortunately, people these days are also suffering from a similar situation. We are, of course, talking about all sorts of prescription drugs that results in hundreds of deaths every day.
Indeed, these days it is quite fashionable to be using prescription drugs. Just about every single housewife is using Xanax to “calm her nerves”. Everybody is doing it, so why not try. After all, those prescription drugs are often used by the society’s pop idols along with things like Vicodin, Oxycodone and OxyContin. Young people are attracted by those “remedies”, since their idols are constantly saying that they would not be able to live without those.
Are Prescription Drugs Problem To The Society?
However, those prescription drugs are not only the problem of the modern generation. Too many senior individuals have a habit of misusing their prescription drugs. The official statistical data clearly demonstrates that nearly 300 000 elderly people are misusing prescription drugs and this causes significant health related problems. Too many healthcare professionals are either too negligent or unwilling to look for more complex ways of dealing with health related issues. Instead, they are prescribing all those drugs in order to deal with a huge variety of conditions – from joint pain and up to depression.
So what are the main factors that lead to heavy drug abuse as well as consequent addiction? Who is to blame and what may be the solution to this genuinely disturbing problem?
Well, first of all, those drugs are readily available in just about any pharmacy on the market. Once again, the doctors are quite quick at prescribing the drugs even to those people, who do not need them as badly. And the people themselves are led by a simple logic – the drug was prescribed by a healthcare expert, it was issued to me by a pharmacist, so it must mean that the drug is 100% effective and safe.
Furthermore, you will be genuinely surprised after you will find out just how many senior individuals are suffering from severe prescription drug addiction these days. With age, people are starting to suffer from all kinds of pain that may make your life unbearable. Of course, you will go to the doctor in search for help. Too bad that most doctors will not be looking for serious ways of helping you and will stick to the more immediate solutions. Elderly individuals are getting prescription drugs, but over some time their organism develops a tolerance, so they need higher doses of the drugs in order to feel good, which leads to severe addiction – it is very disturbing, since all illegal substances work in this way.
Prescription drugs may prove to be genuinely dangerous for the people, who never used to think of themselves as drug addicts. For example, OxyContin or simply Oxy was known as the “hillbilly heroin”, since it was used by a number of Appalachian communities. It was one of the largest problems for the law enforcement authorities. However, over time, Oxy became more expensive due to bigger demand. Yet, a lot of Oxy users figured out that heroin has the absolute same effect, but does not cost as much. Hence, Oxy turned into a real gateway drug for people, who were successful in the community. We are talking about attorneys, law enforcement officers, doctors. When some of those people were in the detox they were asked how they come to this and why they started using heroin in the first place? The answer was simple – prescription drugs were at the root of the problem.
What Is Triplicate Prescription Program?
A lot of governmental authorities were trying to handle the issue, but California went a bit further – the Triplicate Prescription Program (TPP) was created back in 1939. It was collecting information regarding the so-called Schedule II drugs. These are the most common prescription drugs, such as Vicodin, OxyContin, Hydrocodone and others. In 1999 the CURES program replaced the TPP initiative. CURES (Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System) is a special database of all Schedule II-IV controlled prescription drugs. Furthermore, California Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) was introduced in 2009 as a client oriented component of the CURES> Both programs are meant to fight against prescription drug abuse and to serve as the most reliable sources of investigative as well as research information regarding prescription drugs in California.
One way or the other, if you are going to be willing to look a little bit closer to the issue – the problem of prescription drug abuse in America, you will be able to understand that it is largely based on all the core American values – we are all used to finding quick solutions to our problems and we are looking for the most rapid and convenient results. This, however, does not justify all the means we deem as necessary.