Abuse of prescription drug a matter of concern
 

Olivia Olarte - Khaleej Times

14 April 2010,

ABU DHABI — Prescription drug abuse is a growing problem in the country with more and more individuals succumbing to the vice.

“Nowadays, one of the major issue that we need to concentrate on is the abuse of medication drugs in higher amount,” Dr Hamad Al Ghaferi, director general of the Abu Dhabi-based National Rehabilitation Centre
(NRC) said.

“It’s a major issue ... they go to physicians who prescribed them and they start to abuse these types of medication by taking large amount. The problem is, these medications are prescribed and these people are abusing it,” he said. 

Prescription drugs are the second most commonly abused category of drugs, behind marijuana and ahead of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs, according to the prescription-drug-abuse.org.

The US National Institutes of Health estimates that nearly 20 per cent of people in the US have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons.

Prescription drugs that are most commonly abused include narcotic painkillers such as OxyContin or Vicodin, sedatives and tranquilizers such as Xanax or Valium, and stimulants like Dexedrine, Adderall or Ritalin.

The US National Institute of Drug Abuse has also warned of the possible abuse of over-the-counter (OCT) medicines such as cough suppressants, sleep aids, antihistamines and dimenhydrinates (in Gravol
or Dramamine) for their
psychoactive effects.