cannabisnews.com: Prescription Drug Use Drops Among Young People
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Prescription Drug Use Drops Among Young People
Posted by CN Staff on September 25, 2012 at 05:45:28 PT
By Donna Leinwand Leger, USA Today
Source: USA Today
USA -- Young adults drove the drop. The number of people 18 to 25 who regularly abuse prescription drugs fell 14% to 1.7 million, the National Survey on Drug Use and Health reported Monday. In 2011, 3.6% of young adults abused pain relievers, the lowest rate in a decade.The survey, sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, collects data from interviews with 67,500 people age 12 and older. Administrator Pamela Hyde said the decrease in abuse indicates that public health and law enforcement efforts to curb abuse of prescription drugs, such as the powerful painkillers oxycodone and hydrocodone, work.
In 2011, 6.1 million people abused narcotic pain pills, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives, down from 7 million people in 2011, the survey found. Pain pill abuse dropped from 2.1% of the population in 2009 to 1.7% in 2011.Still, the number of people addicted to pain relievers grew from 936,000 in 2002 to 1.4 million in 2011. About a third of the addicts are 18 to 25, the survey found.Most states operate prescription drug monitoring programs, which can identify doctors who prescribe excessive doses of the drugs and patients who seek multiple prescriptions from different doctors, said Gil Kerlikowske, director of the White House Office of Drug Control Policy.In 2011, 22.5 million Americans 12 or older, nearly 9% of the population, said they regularly used illicit drugs such as marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants or abused prescription drugs, including pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives. While cocaine abuse has dropped from 2.4 million regular users in 2006 to 1.4 million last year, heroin abuse is rising, the survey found. The number of people who reported regular heroin use grew from 161,000 in 2007 to 281,000 in 2011, the survey found.Marijuana remains the most commonly abused drug at all ages.SnippedComplete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/mQ4bJGPOSource: USA Today (US) Author: Donna Leinwand Leger, USA TodayPublished: August 7, 2012Copyright: 2012 USA Today, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.Contact: editor usatoday.comWebsite: http://www.usatoday.com/CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml 
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Comment #9 posted by FoM on September 26, 2012 at 07:18:21 PT
Another Thought
Keeping marijuana illegal is one of the only ways to keep people scared. Workers are afraid to ask for a raise or strike if they are in a Union. If marijuana was legal and they stopped testing employees for marijuana and just checked for other drugs and alcohol the workers would soon become empowered and they fear empowered people.
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on September 26, 2012 at 07:04:01 PT
I will always believe 
that the government and the media started this drug thing just like they started the opium wars. They did it and they are still doing it with their scare tactics and their hoopla and their carrying on and sometimes... they even supplied the drugs. The secret government agencies... not the media. But boy... did the media ever set the plan in place and promote it. It still does.For money.... all of it. The drug testing, the arrests, the police... the prisons and the rehabs. Monsters. We fight against monsters of such vast power and huge proportions. We fight to save people from the monster... and the monster fights for money and power, and lots of it.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on September 26, 2012 at 06:38:58 PT
Paul Pot 
That's the way I look at it too.
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Comment #6 posted by Paul Pot on September 25, 2012 at 23:49:36 PT:
abuse or consumption?
It’s always abuse never use or consumption we always have to get this word with negative overtones thrown at us. This makes every drinker an alcoholic. It ain’t half obvious propaganda. 
Most illicit drug consumers can handle their consumption like most alcohol drinkers do. It’s just a few who fall by the way and incarceration is in no way helpful to them or the community. You can in no way help someone who is not ready to be helped. Addiction support must be voluntary. The addict has to ask for help, it’s just not going to work otherwise. 
And why not correlate the drop in prescription drug consumption to the spread of medical marijuana and liberalization of marijuana laws in some states. Because of this people are getting a SAFER choice. We have all seen people behaving badly on alcohol and or prescription drugs but no-one has seen anyone lose it on marijuana only. So naturally as cannabis becomes more available more people smoke it and less people do the other alternatives that are out there. And that is responsible decision making on the part of the community. They know better than their own government and will not be intimidated. 
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Comment #5 posted by Ryannn29 on September 25, 2012 at 22:44:24 PT
lower # also b/c people choose a healthier route
Keep in mind that number dropped because some people such have chosen to go synthetic drug free, meaning I only use cannabis and any other natural remedies to cure or aid anything. Though I have taken an allergy pill or two in the past year, I get insane allergies during blooming in spring and summer.
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Comment #4 posted by Sam Adams on September 25, 2012 at 17:27:08 PT
perspective
just remember, from 1630 till 1914 drug use was entirely outside the purview of the government. There was no money spent, no hand-wringing, no nothing. Churches and charities dealt with it.Drug use isn't a serious problem! I'm sorry, it's just not. 45,000 die on the roads every year, only 20K from "drug" use, and it's a big problem?  Medical errors and prescription drugs are taking hundreds of thousands of people lives every year, and maiming many more.Our currency is carrying 14 trillion in debt, plus according to Ron Paul's GAO audit the Fed gave away another 15+ trillion from 2007 to 2010.  Believe me, drug use is not a major problem. Hyperinflation, that is something to worry about. When the bill comes due and we're burning stacks of dollars to stay warm like the Russians in 1990 then we'll realize what serious problems really are!
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on September 25, 2012 at 07:19:19 PT
afterburner
I never met anyone that abused marijuana. There is a difference between use and abuse. They throw words around that shouldn't be used. 
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Comment #2 posted by afterburner on September 25, 2012 at 07:04:39 PT
'abused' abused??? 
"Marijuana remains the most commonly abused drug at all ages."What does this have to do with prescription drugs? It is federally illegal to *prescribe* "marijuana." Gannett is true to its prohibitionist doctrine of "all use is abuse." I agree with FoM about the consequences of "cracking down on narcotic prescription drugs." Heroin is a fungible (see Wickard v. Filburn) substitute for prescription oxycodone.This is just dishonest and heartless manipulation of government statistics: pumping down the ONDCP numbers on oxycodone and pumping up the DEA numbers on heroin. Lost in the shuffle are the victims of this irrational campaign against people in pain and think of the children.So, the patients and the children are thrown to the black market and the criminal justice system instead of healthcare. Into an unregulated, dangerous and expensive criminal black market instead of a regulated, quality-controlled and insured healthcare system. Into the arms of violent turf warriors instead of rehab therapists.The federal government needs to give their own heads a shake. This is cruel and irresponsible government action.Pie the ONDCP.Pie the DEA.
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Comment #1 posted by FoM on September 25, 2012 at 05:47:19 PT
My Thoughts
Excerpt: The number of people who reported regular heroin use grew from 161,000 in 2007 to 281,000 in 2011, the survey found.What did they think would happen by cracking down on narcotic prescription drugs?
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