2. Prescription medications such as pain relievers, central nervous system, depressants, and stimulants are highly beneficial treatments for a variety of health conditions. Pain relievers enable individuals with chronic pain to lead productive lives; tranquilizers can reduce anxiety and help patients with sleep disorders; and stimulants help people with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder focus their attention.
3. Most people who take prescription medications use them responsibly. But when abused, prescription medications can produce serious adverse health effects, including addiction.
13. Stats In 2000, 43 percent of those who ended up in hospital emergency rooms from drug overdoses-nearly a half million people-were there because of misusing prescription drugs. 1 in 5 teens has abused a prescription (Rx) pain medication 1 in 5 report abusing prescription stimulants and tranquilizers
14. Continued… Over the past decade-and-a-half, the number of teen and young adult (ages 12 to 25) new abusers of prescription painkillers such as oxycodone (OxyContin) or hydrocodone (Vicodin) has grown five-fold (from 400,000 in the mid-eighties to 2 million in 2000).
