Is better pain management leading to more drug abuse?

Filed in archive Studies on June 21, 2010

© Patrik Axelsson

A report just released by the CDC and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) indicates that from 2004-2008 mis-use of prescription medication sent the same number to the emergency room as did people abusing illegal drugs. Miss-use of prescription drugs means people overdosing on them or using them in ways that they were not prescribed and suffering adverse consequences.

It is estimated that this resulted in approximately 1 million emergency room visits in 2008 alone double what it was five years earlier. The two drugs that were miss-used the most were oxycodone and hydrocodone. While it does not appear that the medical profession know why there has been such a huge increase, what is clear is that the drugs have bee prescribed more than previously. The medical profession are prescribing more pain killers than in the past as more information becomes known about the cause and effects of pain. Pain management has increased as a result.