Prescription Drugs | Addiction Treatment Strategies

Adolescents who misuse controlled medications (e.g., pain, stimulant, sleeping and antianxiety medications) for which they have a legitimate prescription may be more likely to abuse other substances and to sell, give or trade their controlled medications to other individuals, according to a…

Abuse of Suboxone, a drug used to treat addiction, is a growing concern among Vermont corrections officials.
The Burlington Free Press reports that the drug, prescribed on an outpatient basis for addiction to heroin and prescription painkillers, such as oxycodone, is being diverted by the very…

Despite warnings about borrowing medication prescribed to other people, past studies have demonstrated that many Americans say they have used someone else’s medication at least once in a given year. In low income, urban populations, this rate was stereotypically thought to be higher due…

If you want to know how people become addicted and why they keep using drugs, ask the people who are addicted.
 Thirty-one of 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification told University at Buffalo physicians they first got hooked on drugs legitimately prescribed for pain.
Another 24…

For The NHS must wise up to the “growing problem” of drug and alcohol misuse among older people, according to a new report published today by the Royal College of Psychiatrists.
The report, written by the Older People’s Substance Misuse Working Group of the Royal College of…

Following a 2010 report on health promotion, risk reduction and suicide prevention in the Army that cites prescription drug abuse as a growing issue, the Army is making changes to reduce the misuse of prescription pain medications.
Prescription drug abuse in the military mirrors a growing…

Please report the sale of drugs on the Internet or emails advertising the sale of drugs to the following agencies:
the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3),
the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Diversion Control Program, and
the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) (for prescription…

As prescription drug abuse reaches epidemic proportions, a recent study reports disturbingly low monitoring rates for patients taking powerful prescription drugs. Only 8 percent of patients taking opioid pain medications are screened by their doctor. Fewer than half (49.8 percent) see their…

Content provided by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Pharmacologist Michael Klein, Ph.D., is director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Controlled Substance Staff.
During more than 30 years of federal service, he has amassed extensive experience with issues related to drug…