Prescription Drug Addiction Treatment in Texas

Prescription drug addiction is the new drug epidemic in the U.S and the prescription drug problem in Texas is no different. More suffer drug addiction to prescription drugs than cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and other drugs. The National Institute of Health estimates that nearly 20 percent of people in the United States have used and abused prescription drugs for non-medical reasons.

Prescription drug addiction contributes too many addicts moving onto street drugs, specifically heroin. Teenagers are getting hooked on pain killers either prescribed or found someone's medicine cabinet and when the pills run out, moving onto street drugs like heroin. Heroin is cheaper and easier to obtain. Thousands of addicts are admitted into Texas drug rehab centers each year as a result.

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Prescription Drugs of Abuse

All drugs are toxic and can be addictive, especially when used in excess of necessity or without prescription. Those include narcotic painkillers like OxyContin or Vicodin, sedatives and tranquilizers like Xanax or Valium, and stimulants like Dexedrine, Adderall or Ritalin.

Steroid abuse is also on the rise. For the most part steroids are prescription drugs that are legally prescribed to treat a variety of medical conditions that cause loss of lean muscle mass, such as cancer and AIDS. Men consistently report higher rates of steroid use than women. In 2008, 2.5 percent of 12th grade males, versus 0.6 percent of 12th grade females, reported taking the drugs in the past year.

Prescription Drug Addiction in Texas

In 2000, about 43 percent of hospital emergency admissions in the U.S.for drug overdoses (nearly 500,000 people) happened because of misused prescription drugs. This type of drug abuse is increasing partially because of the availability of drugs, including online pharmacies that make it easier to get the drugs without a prescription, even for minors.

Many people feel, especially among younger people, that prescription drugs are not as dangerous as illegal street drugs. Most people don't lock up their prescription medications, nor do they discard them when they are no longer needed for their intended use, making them vulnerable to theft or misuse leading to serious drug addiction problems.

The number of teens and young adults (ages 12 to 25) who were new abusers of prescription painkillers grew from 400,000 in the mid-'80s to 2 million in 2000, according to a study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. New misusers of tranquilizers, which are normally used to treat anxiety or tension, increased nearly 50 percent between 1999 and 2000 alone.

In a study of students in Wisconsin and Minnesota, 34 percent of kids diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) said they had been approached to sell or trade their Ritalin or Adderall, two drugs commonly used to treat symptoms of ADHD.

The Texas drug abuse problem followed suit with deaths from accidental prescription drug overdoses increased in Texas by more than 150 percent from 1999 to 2007, from 790 to 1,987. Accidental poisoning during that time was the third-leading cause of injury-related deaths statewide, behind only car crashes and suicide.