Prescription Painkiller Abuse: More Than 70% Get Drugs From Friends Or Family, Study Finds

* Drugs obtained from family, friends for free

* Overdoses from medications higher than for street drugs

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - More than 70 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers obtain the drugs from friends or relatives, usually with permission and for free, according to a government study to be released on Wednesday.

The study, based on data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, underscores the public education challenge that law enforcement officials face in persuading legitimate prescription drug users to dispose of their medications properly before they fall into the wrong hands.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has cracked down pharmaceutical abuse by targeting distributors and pharmacies. The agency is due to begin an administrative hearing on Wednesday in the case of two CVS Caremark Corp. stores suspected of selling the painkiller oxycodone outside legitimate channels in Florida, the center of the growing epidemic.

"At the end of the day, our strongest tool is vigilance among everyone with access to a medicine cabinet," said Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the White House's anti-drug campaign, in a statement accompanying the study's results.

The administration is working on new regulations to make it easier for people and institutions to dispose of unused prescription drugs under legislation signed into law by President Barack Obama in October 2010.

The illicit use of legal medications poses a huge public health and safety problem in the United States, where overdose deaths from their use has surpassed older street narcotics such as heroine and cocaine.

The DEA estimates that 7 million Americans abuse pharmaceuticals, leading to a 346 percent spike in overdose deaths from oxycodone alone from 2005 to 2010.

The trend is responsible for 11 deaths per day, on average, from oxycodone, methadone, hydrocodone, benzodiazepines and morphine, federal officials say. Prescription drug abusers include an estimated one in seven teenagers.

The latest study shows that 55 percent of prescription pain killer abusers got the drugs from a family or friends for free, while 11 percent bought them from the same sources and 5 percent took them without asking. Reliance on friends and relatives is highest among new and occasional abusers.

About 25 percent of those who rank as chronic abusers of pain relievers get their drugs from doctors, while a slightly larger number buy them from dealers, over the Internet or from friends and relatives.

Among the chronic abusers, 41 percent obtain pills for free or without asking from friends and relatives.

All told, the study showed that about 2 percent of the U.S. population aged 12 and older has abused a prescription pain killer within the past 30 days.

The data, from 2009 and 2010, was released ahead of DEA-sponsored public education events scheduled for Saturday at more than 5,000 collection sites under the banner, "National Take Back Day."

The National Survey on Drug Use and Health, one of the federal government's largest, is conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

It gathers information from about 67,000 randomly selected people aged 12 and above who are asked about their mental health and their use of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

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Comments

[foresure]

08:50 PM on 04/26/2012

Google: Hypnosis pain management.

dujs.dartmouth.edu/1999F/Hypnotism.pdf

[froidytoidy]

08:33 PM on 04/25/2012

This is a deceiving article with a deceptive heading.

..."All told, the study showed that about 2 percent of the U.S. population aged 12 and older has abused a prescription pain killer within the past 30 days."

Wondering what the definition of 'abuse' is?

[Dennis Byras]

01:53 AM on 04/26/2012

That would be anyone who hasn't paid a doctor for a prescription. Have back pain and no doctor? that's abuse.

[r1r1r1]

03:22 PM on 04/25/2012

This is a proverbial case of the tail wagging the dog- if we had a government and health care system focused on humane care then these problems would never have gotten so bad- now inhumane doctors and inhumane government officials seek to blame everyone but themselves for the sorry state of affairs.

[Banchee24]

02:05 PM on 04/25/2012

The DEA is the bloody cause of the problem! Our Nazi agents browbeat the pain management clinics and HMO's to the point where they don't prescribe pain meds to those with legitimate need causing those patients to seek relief elsewhere. The system and the government is screwed up.

[nikkikelby]

01:01 PM on 04/25/2012

For people with chronic pain these meds along with a pain management program are a god send. Long term pain can bring on depression and anxiety disorders. Parents, Grandparents, Friends, and anyone who posses these medications please lock them up. Get a safe that has no less than a six digit combonation. To all that are giving these meds away shame on you. How will you feel if the person you gave them to OD's. We have to understand that are legtimate uses for pain killers, and anyone without a prescription for them is a form of abuse, even if they are in pain. Please see a pain management doctor and be monitored for signs of abuse. Some people just can't take these drugs as prescribed, but there are other options in a pain management program that can help to.

[Dennis Byras]

01:55 AM on 04/26/2012

so what if you have chronic, debilitating pain and no access to a doctor?

[jools6009]

10:18 PM on 04/26/2012

I cut loose a "friend" who always claimed to suffer back pain and routinely asked his friends for pain medication. Long story short, he drinks and takes pills to get high. He's an addict, but can't admit his passion for alcohol, weed and pills is a problem. If for any reason, you have a friend or family member who likes pain meds, when they visit, please remove all prescribed pain medication from your medicine cabinet.