With its cheerful pills and candy-coated colors, this infographic by 12 Palms Recovery Center spells out the shocking facts about prescription drug abuse in the United States.
Despite being a country with just 5% of the world’s population, the US consumes three-quarters of the world’s supply of prescription medication.
Our over-medicated norms have numbed us to the apparent dangers of prescription drugs; many people think they are far less dangerous than street drugs and can give them a “safe high.” In fact, 52 million Americans have used prescription drugs non-medically in their lifetime, with the most common type being painkillers.
The number of hospitalizations for painkiller overdose have skyrocketed in recent years. And one study by the CDC said that for every one of the 15,500 prescription painkiller deaths in 2009, there were 10 treatment admissions for drug abuse, 32 emergency department visits for Rx drug misuse, 130 individuals who abuse or are dependent on painkillers, and a whopping 825 people who take painkillers for non-medical reasons.
According to SAMHSA, most prescription drug abusers get their fix for free from a friend or relative, and even teenagers find the drugs easy to acquire: 62% of teens surveyed by the University of Texas at Austin say that the drugs are easy to get from their parents’ medicine cabinets.
Obviously something needs to change. Do your part by never sharing prescription drugs, and properly disposing of unused medications.
There are always solutions to Drug abuse, that is The Ranch drug rehab center have taken it as their top priority to make sure you get the best.