Prescription drug use is also quite common among many people who will use medicines which are not prescribed for them or use them in irregular dosages. Even though they are prescribed by the doctor they cause serious health effects due to over dosages. At times these drugs may also cause addiction in some cases making the situation even more worst.
A new study from the Drexel University’s school of public health conducted a new study which states that abusing painkiller drugs makes the person abuse some other illegal drugs like heroin and cocaine. The abuse of prescription drugs can be considered as an earliest sign that a person can get addicted to illegal drugs soon.
The researchers observed that adolescents are at a high risk for prescription drugs and there on to the illegal drugs. They found that more than 85% of those who admitted abusing injectable or prescribed drugs went on to heroin use. According to the report published in the International Journal of drug policy, that the change from abusing painkillers to heroin took an average of two years.
The research also revealed that the source for the prescription drugs come from the family in which the pain killers are left carelessly and maximum of the participants were raised in the household where misuse of prescription drugs, illegal drugs, or alcohol was normalized. They get the access to the prescription medicines either from their own source, a family member, or a friend.
These reports say that neglecting substances like pain killers and alcohol at home may also make the other family members pay attention towards them and to get used to them, which becomes a gateway for illegal drug use.