Oxycontin and Prescription Drug Abuse

Although most people take prescription medications responsibly, there has been an increase in the non-medical use or, as National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) refers to, abuse of prescription drugs in the United States.

What Are The Conerns?

A number of published reports indicate that prescription drug abuse is on the rise in the United States. According to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6.3 million Americans aged 12 and older have used prescription medications for non-medical purposes in the prior 30 days.

The number of new non-medical users of pain relievers increased drastically-from 573,000 in 1990 to 2.5 million in 2000. Overall, men and women have roughly similar rates of non-medical use of prescription drugs (an exception is found among 12-17-year-olds, with more females likely to abuse these drugs).

2005 Monitoring the Future (MTF) Survey*
MTF assesses the extent and perceptions of drug use among 8th, 10th, and 12th grade students nationwide. In 2003, the survey showed that lifetime, annual, and 30-day** use of tranquilizers had declined significantly from 2002 for 10th- and 12th-graders. This was the first year of decline for 12th-graders after a decade of gradual increase. In general, 8th-graders’ rates of reported tranquilizer use have been considerably lower than those observed in the upper grades. These figures remained statistically unchanged in 2005, with 6.8% of 12th-graders, 4.8% of 10th-graders, and 2.8% of 8th-graders reporting annual use of tranquilizers.

Only 12th grade data are reported for use of sedatives. Lifetime use of sedatives among high school seniors remained statistically unchanged between 2004 (9.9%) and 2005 (10.5%).

Only 12th grade data are reported for abuse of narcotics other than heroin in the MTF. The annual prevalence of this class of drugs had risen considerably, from 3.3% in 1992 to 7% in 2000 and 6.7% in 2001. In 2002, the survey item was changed to incorporate three new specific pain relievers, OxyContin (a controlled-release form of oxycodone that can cause severe health consequences if crushed and ingested), Vicodin (hydrocodone), and Percocet. Following this change, past year use was reported by 9.4% of seniors in 2002, 9.3% in 2003, 9.5% in 2004, and 9.0% in 2005.

Beginning in 2002, new items asking specifically about the use of OxyContin and Vicodin were also added to the survey. Annual use of OxyContin by 12th-graders has risen from 4.0% in 2002 to 5.5% in 2005. Annual OxyContin use has remained more stable in the lower grades since 2002, with 1.8% of 8th-graders and 3.2% of 10th-graders reporting annual use in 2005. The annual prevalence rate for Vicodin was considerably higher than for OxyContin, at 9.5% among 12th-graders, 5.9% among 10th-graders, and 2.6% among 8th-graders in 2005. Considering the addictive potential of oxycodone and hydrocodone, these are disturbingly high rates of use.

The Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN), which monitors drug mentions (medications and drugs of abuse) from emergency departments (EDs) across the Nation, recently reported that two of the most frequently mentioned prescription medications in drug abuse-related cases are benzodiazepines (e.g., Valium, Xanax, Klonopin, and Ativan) and opioid pain relievers (e.g., oxycodone, hydrocodone, morphine, methadone, and combinations that include these drugs). In 2002, benzodiazepines accounted for 100,784 ED visits categorized as drug abuse-related cases and opioid pain relievers accounted for more than 119,000. Between 1994 and 2002, ED reports of hydrocodone and oxycodone overdoses increased by 170% and 450%, respectively. While ED visits attributed to drug addiction have been increasing, suicide-related visits have remained stable since 1995.

(Source: National Institute on Drug Abuse and drugabuse.gov/drugpages/prescription.html )