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How Much Do You Know About The Prescription Drug Abuse Problem?

Take a Quick Quiz
(Check your answers at bottom of the page)

  1. Most people abusing prescription drugs get them from friends or relatives for free.


  2. Middle-aged adults have higher rates of prescription drug abuse than adolescents or the elderly.


  3. More Americans reported prescription drug abuse than the combined total of those reporting abuse of cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants, and heroin in 2005.


  4. The public in general has a good grasp of the dangers of misusing Rx medicines.


  5. Drug abusers often want an appointment toward end of office hours or call after regular hours.


  6. Women have higher rates than men of misuse of pain relievers, stimulants and methamphetamines.


  7. Practitioners cannot be reimbursed for screening, assessment or brief intervention services.


  8. Few screening and assessment tools are available to practitioners in managing the risk of prescribing pain medication.


  9. The number of prescriptions for controlled substances increased by 150 percent from 1992 to 2002.


  10. A drug abuser will often state that specific non-narcotic analgesics do not work or that he/she is allergic to them.

 

    Answers:
  1. True
  2. False, Research shows that adolescents and young adults tended to have the highest rates of nonmedical use of prescription drugs. Prescription abuse among the elderly is also on the rise.
  3. True
  4. False, Prescription medicines are often perceived by the public as safer than illegal drugs, even when misused. Many consider them as not addictive.
  5. True
  6. True
  7. False, Brief interventions can be very effective and are reimbursable.
  8. False, Passik, Kirsh, & Casper (in press), reviewed the literature on 25 currently available screening and assessment tools that physicians can use.
  9. True
  10. True

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