NIDA is launching a new study into treatment for addiction to opioid painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin:
The study is a response to the growing problem of prescription drugs abuse in the United States. In 2005, more than six million Americans reported nonmedical use of prescription drugs within the previous month, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. That's more than the number of people who used cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants combined.
Of course, the article conveniently paints all nonmedical use of prescription drugs as drug abuse; it seems unlikely that all six million Americans who sampled an opioid in a given month are addicted to the point of risking their jobs/families/health, but let's not let semantics get in the way of suggesting treatment for these people.
It's clear that nonmedical use is not particularly what the doctor ordered, and I'm certainly not suggesting that drugs like OxyContin and Vicodin don't have addictive properties. But it would be nice if popular media bothered to delve any deeper than "look at all the people that got high last month!" Many of those people are probably doing just fine about it. Alarmism like this doesn't help us understand the true scope of the problem nor the true risk to society posed by nonmedical use of opioids. A little more research is in order, please?
