Prescription Drug Abuse in America Essay - 1800 Words

When a person thinks of problems that haunt the state, mostly what comes to mind are drunk driving, the meth epidemic, or the bipolar weather, but our state has a crisis that is on the rise and catching the attention of the police force all over the state. Our state ranks high among all states with people, ages 12 and older, taking prescription pills without being prescribed them. (NSDUH) Many teens and adults can recall a friend asking them for their prescription pills or have witnessed someone taking these pills illegally. Throughout my life, there are many instances that I can recall from memory that deal with prescription pills and these instance changed or altered my life. People tend to think that prescription pills are safer than†¦show more content†¦But after my mother quit her job and sold our house, she found out that Regina was still using the pills, and it was worse than ever. This negatively affected my family not only emotionally, but also financially. My mothe r was without her job, and we did not have a home to call ours. We then moved in with my mother’s boyfriend and times were hard on us with little money for the necessities, like food. Feeling that it was best to avoid contact with Regina, my mother didn’t speak to her for a year. Finally, my mother was looking her up and found out that Regina had committed suicide after losing everything from her addiction to prescription pills. Later, we found out that she lost her job from not showing up most of the time, and her husband was filing for divorce. The last straw that pushed her over the edge and made her take her own life was that her husband was filing for custody of their two year old child. When one chooses to abuse prescription drugs over his or her loved ones, relationships start to take a toll for the worst. Prescription drugs are ranked second as most used illegal drugs, next to marijuana, which is the most used illegal drug in the world, as approximately twenty-two million people abuse prescriptions. (NSDUH) Users tend to surround themselves with others who use drugs, rather than spending time with friends or family. Another harmful aspect to using prescription drug is usually steals them or buys them illegallyShow MoreRelatedTeenage Prescription Drug Abuse Essay1427 Words   |  6 PagesTeenage Prescription Drug Abuse Years ago, the common image of an adolescent drug abuser was a teen trying to escape from reality on illegal substances like cocaine, heroin, or marijuana. Today, there is a great discrepancy between that perception and the reality of who is likely to abuse drugs. A teenage drug abuser might not have to look any further than his or her parent’s medicine chest to ‘score.’ Prescription drug abuse by teens is on the rise. 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