Health & Wellbeing

Overdosing On Prescription Drugs

Overdosing On Prescription Drugs

Overdosing On Prescription Drugs

Reef Karim (Psychiatrist, addiction specialist, relationship therapist, Assistant Clinical Professor, UCLA) gives expert video advice on: Are more people overdosing on prescription drugs, or is it just media hype?; What are the non-medical reasons people use prescription drugs?; Why does it seem like celebrities often overdose on prescription drugs? and more...

Are more people overdosing on prescription drugs, or is it just media hype?

I feel like media follows trends, but it takes a while. Heres the whole key to this: its for non-medical reasons. If your using perscription drugs for medical reasons and they are perscribed by your doctor and used as they should be, then fine, go live your life and enjoy yourself. If your using perscription drugs for non-medical reasons then thats a problem. In 2004 there was a national drug survey, and they looked at how many Americans used perscription drugs for non-medical reasons ever. 48 million Americans, 28% of our population. So this is not like "Oh yeah I know that one family and they were using perscription drugs, and thats bad". No. This is one fifth of our population that are using it. Now does that mean they are addicted? No. But they are using it for non medical reasons which means if you are vulnerable then you may become addicted. And thats a major problem.