Prescription drug addiction
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Prescription drug addiction is the chronic, repeated use of a prescription drug in ways other than prescribed for, including using someone else’s prescription.[3][4] A prescription drug is a pharmaceutical drug that may not be dispensed without a legal medical prescription. Drugs in this category are supervised due to their potential for misuse and substance use disorder. The classes of medications most commonly abused are opioids, central nervous system (CNS) depressants and central nervous stimulants.[3]: 5 In particular, prescription opioid is most commonly abused in the form of prescription analgesics.[5][6]
Prescription drug addiction | |
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Adderall is a commonly abused stimulant drug containing amphetamine.[1] | |
Specialty | Psychiatry, clinical psychology |
Complications | Drug overdose |
Frequency | Estimated over 3.43 million prescription opioid users and 3.42 million prescription stimulant users worldwide.[2] |
Prescription drug addiction was recognized as a significant public health and law enforcement problem worldwide in the past decade due to its medical and social consequences.[7] Particularly, the United States declared a public health emergency regarding increased drug overdoses in 2017.[8] Since then, multiple public health organizations have emphasized the importance of prevention, early diagnosis and treatments of prescription drug addiction to address this public health issue.[9]