Hannah Price
13 December 2015
AP English
The
Devastation of the Prescription Drug Epidemic
Don't you open up that window / Don't you
let out that antidote / Poppin' pills is all we know / In the hills is all we
know… Antidote by Travis Scott
Or what about Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
song Kevin
From a pill that a doctor prescribed
That a drug deal a million dollar industry supplied
I blame the pharmacy companies
And a country that spends trillions fighting the war they supplying themselves
Politicians and business and jail
Public defenders and judges who fail
Look at Kevin, look at Kevin
Now he's wrapped in plastic
First dealer was his mom's medicine cabinet
Got anxiety, better go and give him a Xanax
Focus, give him Adderall, sleep, give him Ambien
'Til he's walking 'round the city looking like a mannequin
Ups and downs, shooting up prescriptions you're handing him
So America, is it really worth it? I'm asking you!
That a drug deal a million dollar industry supplied
I blame the pharmacy companies
And a country that spends trillions fighting the war they supplying themselves
Politicians and business and jail
Public defenders and judges who fail
Look at Kevin, look at Kevin
Now he's wrapped in plastic
First dealer was his mom's medicine cabinet
Got anxiety, better go and give him a Xanax
Focus, give him Adderall, sleep, give him Ambien
'Til he's walking 'round the city looking like a mannequin
Ups and downs, shooting up prescriptions you're handing him
So America, is it really worth it? I'm asking you!
The lyrics of these songs
capture the pervasive prescription drug epidemic that has engulfed every
segment of this country, and many of our music artists today describe these
experiences in their lyrics. While the
United States (U.S.) comprises only 5% of the world’s population, the U.S.
consumes 75% of the world’s prescription drugs (United Nations Office of Drugs
and Crime, 2011). Additionally, many of the people who use prescription drugs
do so illegally, or with a prescription that is for non-medical use. According to the National Survey on Drug Use
and Health (NSDUH, 2011), 6.1 million people reported using prescription drugs
non-medically in the past month. Among
the drugs most frequently used are painkillers (5.1 million), tranquilizers
(2.2 million), and stimulants (1.1 million) (drugabuse.gov, 2010). Such states
as Arkansas, Indiana, Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho,
and Colorado have the highest non-medical use of prescription drugs (NSDUH,
2011).
Many people blame the prescription
drug epidemic on doctors who prescribe addictive medication for non-medical
reasons. According to the NSDUH (2011), doctors
prescribe 82% of all prescriptions. Many
of these doctors, also known as dirty
doctors, write prescriptions for various addictive drugs without treating
or giving proper attention to their patients.
Some people in waiting rooms of these doctors are experiencing symptoms
of withdrawal while waiting to see the doctor.
Among the doctors who write prescriptions (82%), 54% of the population
reports obtaining drugs from friends or relatives, with an additional 17% report
buying or taking prescription drugs from friends or relatives.
Opioids, stimulants,
tranquilizers, and sleeping pills are the non-medical prescription drugs most
frequently abused by adolescents (Rogers and Copley, 2009). As communicated in
the lyrics Kevin by Macklemore &
Ryan Lewis, most adolescents begin experimenting with drugs from their parent’s
medicine cabinet. In the documentary, Behind the Orange Curtain, adolescents
report many of the drugs they use are easily found in their parents’ medicine
cabinet, and these parents never realize their children are using their drugs. The
documentary states 1 in 5 school age students have used prescription drugs for
non-medical reasons. The NSDUH (2004) reported that approximately 9% of
adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 used prescription drugs for
non-medical purposes in the past year. However, the number of adolescents who
use drugs has increased over the years. In
a study of 1086 adolescents from an ethnically diverse school district in
southeastern Michigan that included adolescents from 7th grade to 12th
grade, researchers found that 12% of the population had used opioids for
non-medical use in the past year for sleeping, anxiety, and as a stimulant
(Boyd, McCabe, Cranford, & Young, 2006).
Adolescents reported such reasons for non-medical use of prescription
drugs as pain relief, help with sleep, decreasing anxiety, to get high,
experimentation, help with concentration, and to increase alertness. There are
also other adolescents who use drugs to fit in and feel accepted among peers
(Behind the Orange Curtain). Others
report the need to numb their feelings or the enjoyment of euphoric feelings that
they have never experienced before. It
does not take long before casual drug use becomes an addition, and people
resort to illegal and immoral behavior to satisfy their drug addiction.
The devastation of the drug
epidemic is limitless. As seen in the
documentary, Behind the Orange Curtain, the
non-medical prescription drug use is not limited by gender, race/ethnicity, or
socioeconomic level. An average of 22,000 teens in the U.S. uses drugs on a
daily basis (Behind the Orange Curtain). Orange County California, one of the
richest areas in the U.S., has been referred to as the pill capital of the
world and has more treatment centers per miles than any other city is the U.S.
Many of the adolescents interviewed reported using drugs as early as age 12 or 13,
and OxyContin, Vicodin, and Valium were the most frequently used drugs. Unfortunately, far too many children are prescribed
medication for anxiety, stress, and depression. Thus, taking medication is not
unusual, and adolescents from rich families have a lot of disposable income to
purchase recreational drugs. Parents are
thought to be naïve and choose to deny the fact the drug use of their children.
Whether adolescents live on Park Beach Boulevard or sleep on a park bench, no
one is immune from the drug epidemic, and far too many adolescents die
prematurely as a result of non-prescription drug abuse.
In this country, we have
become far too dependent on both prescription and non-prescription drugs, and
we typically take medication when other forms of treatment can be used. For
example, in situations where there is anxiety and stress, what if instead of
using medication, more people would use meditation, relaxation, or yoga. What
if we escape our surroundings with the soothing sounds of music or the ocean? Also,
rather than using drugs to escape our reality, what if we learn to accept life
as it is or work to change things that are within our control. We can also talk
through our problems with rained counselors.
Given that many non-medical
prescriptions come from doctors, doctors hold the key to the prescription drug epidemic
in this country. Rather than prescribing
medications, doctors should take time to understand the problem of their
patients and assist them with identifying healthy solutions. In closing, in the lyrics of Kevin, by Maclemore and Ryan Lewis, they
state…
Doctor, please give me a dose of the American Dean. Put down the pen and
look in my eyes. We’re in the waiting room and something ain’t right. Doctor,
your medicine and your methods can’t cure my disease without killing me. You’re
killing me.
References
Boyd, C.,
McCabe, S. E., Cranford, J. A., and Young, A. (2006). Adolescents’ motivation
to abuse prescription medications. Pediatrics, 118(6), 2472-2480.
"DrugFacts:
Prescription and Over-the-Counter Medications." Http://www.drugabuse.gov.
N.p., 15 Nov. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
Rogers, P. D. and Copley, L.
(2009). The nonmedical use of prescription drugs by adolescents. Adolescent
Medicine State Art Review, 20(1), 1-8.
National Survey on Drug Use and Health (2011). http://store.samhsa.gov/product/Results-from-the-2011-National-Survey-on-Drug-Use-and-Health-NSDUH-/SMA12-4713.
United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime,
2011. http://www.unodc.org/docs/treatment/PDmtg/Clark_WHO.pdf.
Behind the Orange Curtain. Dir. Brent Huff.
2013. Documentary.
Scott, Travis. Antidote.
Travis Scott. WondaGurl and Eestbound, 2015. CD.
Macklemore. Kevin.
Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. Ryan Lewis, 2015. CD.
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