Over the counter drugs are medicines sold directly to a consumer and do not require the prescription of a registered medical practioner. So they are also known as non prescription drugs. This is a serious and growing global health challenge. Some OTC medicines relieves aches, pain and itches. Some prevent or cure diseases like tooth decay and athletes foot. Others help in managing recurring problems like migrane. It is important to take medicines correctly and be careful when giving them to children. More medicines does not necessarily mean better. Drugs from many different therapeutic classes and numerous dosage form and drug delivery system are implicated in non prescription drug abuse. Individuals who commonly abuse certain non prescription medications are likewise diverse varying in age demographics and overall health status.
KEYWORDS
Non prescription drug, drug abuse
INTRODUCTION
Over the counter drugs are the medicines sold directly to a consumers without prescription from the health care professionals and registered medical practioner. The
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Readily available in many types of stores, not just pharmacies Cheaper than prescription drugs. Do not need a doctor visit. Disadvantages People self treat things that require more attention. While taking with prescription medicines that may cause drug interactions. Social approach that do not require prescription they are safe. Selection of wrong medication due to misdiagnosis. Often go over the counter when they have lost their effectiveness as prescription drugs due to resistance and overuse.
Restricted over the counter
However, physicians could prescribe these
Vaughn Vincent Mrs. Randolph English 10 3 October 2017 The Tylenol Murders of 1982 Think about walking into a drugstore to buy pain reliever for muscle pain, and the bottle is laced with potassium cyanide. This became a real-life problem at the end of September and beginning October in the year 1983. The Tylenol Murders of 1982 sparked a giant scare across the United States. The murders happened in the Chicago metropolitan area and spread rapidly throughout the city.
Over the past 10 years, the pharmaceutical formulary for licensed Naturopathic Physicians has absolutely expanded. In many states where Naturopathic Physicians have licensure, they also have the ability to prescribe pharmaceutical drugs to help their patients. While the Physicians may not always choose to go with pharmaceuticals as a treatment choice, they have the option if that is what they and their patients think is best. The state that has experienced the most expansion has been Oregon, but each state has its own formulary which Naturopaths can work from. If I end up working in a licensure state, it will be important to have pharmaceuticals as an option to treat my patients.
They are distributed in many different ways. If licit, they are prescribed by doctors for a medical reason but often people lie to get the drug. If illicit you get them from drug dealers who sell them at a hefty price. Many addicts are desperate to get their next fix, they even go the trouble of breaking into medicine cabinets
Availability of opioids puts more and more people at risk for addiction. A simple prescription from the doctor for a migraine or back pain can turn into an addiction. Doctors are faced daily with patients who complain of pain, acute and chronic. It has become a simple solution for them to write out a prescription for pain medication to help their patient. In turn, not helping them at all.
People are going to the hospital, they are overdosing on these medications. They get it from friends, or steal it, and they can get addicted to it. This should not happen, and something has to be done about it. There is a problem with abusing and misusing ADHD prescription drugs. People who do not have ADHD are taking some of the medications prescribed to people with ADHD.
“ Because they produce euphoria in addition to pain relief, they can be misused. Regular use- even as prescribed by a doctor can lead to dependence ,and when misused, opioid pain relievers can lead to overdose incidents and deaths” (Drugabuse.gov/opioids) Prescribing opioids have more dangers to the human than they do
When it comes to public health there are many controversies out there. Most of which are due to politics and money. Some of these battles are fought for the good and others are fought for the not so good but one thing is for certain. They will result in change. Today, I am going to look at the controversies that surround concussions in sports and prescription drug abuse.
There are over 100 countries where women have access to birth control pills over the counter. Many Americans believe birth control should be sold over the counter while others disagree with it. Pam Belluck a health science writer for The New York Times says that “Almost two-thirds of 2,000 women surveyed by the sexual health nonprofit Ibis Reproductive Health say they'd support over-the-counter birth control” (Belluck) If birth control pills were sold over the counter, teens and adults would be more willing to buy contraceptives.
According to Michael Klein, “The most prescription drugs that are commonly misused are opioids, tranquillizers, sedatives, and hypnotics.” Unintentional overdose deaths involving opioid pain relievers have quadrupled since 1999 and have outnumbered those involving heroin and cocaine since 2002. (Klein). The reason some people abuse opioids is just to “get high”.
Birth control is not only for people to not have to worry about having children it is also used to make it easier to plan the timing of having children within a family. “Nearly 50 percent. Half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Thats one out of every two pregnancies”(Light n.pag.). Making birth control over the counter could possibly lower the 50 percent of unintended pregnancies so pregnancies would be on purpose and women would not always be disappointed when they find out they 're pregnant.
These pills, such as xanax and oxycodone allow people for short periods of time to withdraw from the harsh reality faced today. “Between 1997 and 2002, sales of oxycodone and methadone nearly quadrupled” (Okie). Around 15 years later and the prescription pill problem is continuing to skyrocket. Since prescription pills are dispersed out to anyone by doctors, many people do not realize that it is as much of an illicit drug as cocaine and heroin is. “Misinformation about the addictive properties of prescription opioids and the perception that prescription drugs are less harmful than illicit drugs are other possible contributors to the problem” (NIDA).
Prescription drugs (opiates only) have caused over 165,000 deaths within the last 15 years and is currently on the rise. Over 2 million Americans in 2014 were addicted to Opiate prescription narcotics. The most troubling fact is listed directly on the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website: “As many as 1 in 4
Even though “off-label” prescribing is necessary at times, like prescribing with children when the drug was not tested on children, there are unknown complications can could exist. Doctors knew the dangers of prescribing Letrazole in pregnant or wanting to become pregnant women and still prescribed the drug. With so many alternatives that are FDA approved, did these doctors prescribing Letrazole just lack knowledge of those alternatives or do they get some form of payment when they prescribe the
(Gonchar). Making the pill easier to get, like not having to get a prescription can help women make their choice that may best suite them when it comes to contraceptives. In order for easier birth control, it should be available over-the counter and minors should be able to purchase without a hustle. It is even