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Risk factors
By Mayo Clinic staffRisk factors for prescription drug abuse include:
- Past or present addictions to other substances, including alcohol
- Younger age, specifically the teens or early 20s
- Exposure to peer pressure or a social environment where there's drug use
- Easy access to prescription drugs (such as working in a health care setting)
- Lack of knowledge about prescription drugs, or thinking that taking someone else's prescription drug is safe because it was prescribed by a doctor
Many people fear that they may become addicted to medications prescribed for legitimate medical conditions, such as painkillers prescribed after surgery. However, people who take potentially addictive drugs as prescribed rarely abuse prescription medications or become addicted.
- Parran TV. Prescription drug abuse. http://www.uptodate.com/home/index.html. Accessed May 11, 2010.
- NIDA InfoFacts: Prescription and over-the-counter medications. National Institute on Drug Abuse. http://www.drugabuse.gov/infofacts/PainMed.html. Accessed May 11, 2010.
- Prescription drugs facts and figures. Office of National Drug Control Policy. http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/drugfact/prescrptn_drgs/rx_ff.html. Accessed May 17, 2010.
- Prescription drug abuse chart. Office of National Drug Control Policy. http://www.drugabuse.gov/DrugPages/PrescripDrugsChart.html. Accessed May 11, 2010.
- Preventing and recognizing prescription drug abuse. National Institute on Drug Abuse. http://www.drugabuse.gov/researchreports/prescription/prescription6.html. Accessed May 11, 2010.
- McCabe SE, et al. Motives for nonmedical use of prescription opioids among high school seniors in the United States. Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine. 2009;163:739.
- Prescription drug abuse. Nemours. http://kidshealth.org/teen/drug_alcohol/drugs/prescription_drug_abuse.html. Accessed May 17, 2010.
- Youth risk behavior surveillance - United States, 2009. Center for Disease Control and Prevention. http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/pdf/ss/ss5905.pdf. Accessed June 8, 2010.
- Proper disposal of prescription drugs. Office of National Drug Control Policy. http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/publications/pdf/prescrip_disposal.pdf. Accessed May 11, 2010.
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