SAMHSA Report: Prescription Pain Reliever Misuse Increases Among Young Adults
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March 20, 2009
According to a report based on a series of nationwide surveys, the numbers of young adults aged 18 to 25 currently using pain relievers for nonmedical reasons increased from 4.1 percent in 2002 to 4.6 percent in 2007.
The report released by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Trends in Nonmedical Use of Prescription Pain Relievers: 2002 to 2007, highlights nonmedical use of pain relievers in the past month among persons aged 12 or older.
Overall, 5.2 million people aged 12 years or older and 1.5 million of young adults aged 18 to 25 reported using prescription pain relievers nonmedically in the past month in 2007.
“Everyone can help prevent prescription drug misuse: the steps are simple. Use medications as prescribed, store them in a secure place and dispose of unused medications properly,” said SAMHSA’s Acting Administrator Eric Broderick.
The report is drawn from SAMHSA’s 2002 through 2007 National Surveys on Drug Use and Health, which collected data from a total sample of approximately 405,000 persons representative of the United States civilian, noninstitutionalized population aged 12 or older.
For more information, visit the SAMHSA Web site to download the report. Copies may also be obtained free of charge by calling SAMHSA’s Health Information Network at 1-877-SAMHSA-7 (1-877-726-4727).
[Note: The HTML format of this report contains a data table used to construct figures in the report; this data table is not found in printed or PDF version.]