PSYC 181 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Doctor Shopping, Prescription Drug, Hydrocodone
Document Summary
Hard to catch prescription drug abusers because they often have a legitimate prescription for them. People can get prescription drugs from friends/family, stealing, or buying them from people who used to have prescriptions for them but don"t need pills any more. More people die each year from prescription drug abuse than alcohol and illicit drugs. Most prescription drugs come from opioids: oxycodone, oxycontin, hydrocodone, vicodin. Florida prescribes 85% of nation"s pain pills (many legitimate); also has highest number of corrupt/rogue doctors: ex) doctor buys pills cheap and trades them for cocaine, pain clinics ( pill mills ) attract abusers from all over u. s. Easy for people to get prescriptions by faking pain because doctors have to subjectively judge a patient"s need for pills (sometimes pain cannot be explained by. A lot are cash-only operated, which is easier to get away with because they don"t have to deal with insurance companies.
