Prescription Drugs
Prescription Drugs Prescription drugs are just as addictive as illegal drugs and are easier to acquire. ... 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. Let us look deeper into these prescription drug classes along with who is at higher risk than others and possible ways to treat and prevent addiction. The most commonly abused classes of prescription drugs are opioids, central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and stimulants. ... Morphine and codeine are the most popular opioid prescription drugs. ... Some examples of prescription CNS depressants are benzodiazepines and barbiturates. ... Some examples of prescription stimulants are methylphenidate and amphetamines. ... The most high-risk people susceptible to prescription drug addiction are teens, the elderly, and women. ... Elderly people today are usually on numerous, “prescription medications approximately three times as frequently as the general population and have been found to have the poorest rates of compliance with directions for taking the medication” (NIDA, 2001, p. ... As you become older, more parts of your body start to shut down, thus one needs a prescription or two per body part, thus leading to numerous mixed medications. Some elderly people find it hard to read the small print labels on the prescription bottles and confuse the dosage of their many medications.