eMedicineLive

We all agree that drug abuse is a menace to the society. Yet, more and more young people are falling in the trap of drugs everyday. The researchers of Drexel University’s School of Public Health conducted a study to explore factors surrounding young injection drug users’ (IDUs) initiation into the misuse of opioid drugs. The results of the study, which was published in the International Journal of Drug Policy, suggest that abuse of prescription painkillers may be an important initiation point for the misuse of opioids drugs.

 

According to Dr. Stephen Lankenau, initiation into prescription drug misuse is common where access to prescription medicines is easy. They may have been prescribed to the person himself, or to a friend or family member. Drug abuse was also found to be common in people raised in household where misuse of prescription drugs, illegal drugs or alcohol was a part of life. Opioid misuse is rampant in youth who want to experiment with prescription drugs like codeine or oxycodone, or those who bow to pressure from peers.

 

The researchers interviewed 50 young IDUs aged 16 and 25 years old in New York and Los Angeles, who had misused a prescription drug at least three times in the past three months, to find out the factors which propel them to misuse opioids drugs. The participants were generally white males in their early 20s who were school dropouts, considered themselves as travelers, suffered from some psychological problem and had been prescribed opioids for some procedure or injury. They also had a family history of substance abuse.

 

The key findings of the study were that four of five IDUs misused an opioid before injecting heroin, and in nearly one out of four young IDUs in this study, a prescription opioid was the first type of drug they injected. Dr. Lankenau and his colleagues concluded that more attention should be paid on adolescent kids and that prescription drugs, especially opioids, should be carefully safeguarded within the household.

 

References:

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