Question

Wally sustained a hip injury from playing football. His doctor prescribed him some medicine to help with his hip pain. One day he experienced a toothache and decided to take the pain pill meant for his hip pain.

Did Wally abuse his prescription drug?

No, because he followed the dosage instructions.
No, because his doctor gave it to him for pain.
Yes, because he used it for his tooth and not his hip.
Yes, because he took his pill orally, as prescribed.

Answer 1

Hi!

The answer that im sure most of us would veer to is; Yes, because he took it for his tooth, not his hip. However, is that abusing it? Or is it simply taking the right dosage for the wrong reason. However he didn't overuse it, or take it to feel high. Although this might be considered misuse, It isn't technically abuse. Misuse is defined as, when a person takes a legal prescription medication for a purpose other than the reason it was prescribed, or when that person takes a drug not prescribed to him or her, that is misuse of a drug. (source FDA.gov) Abuse is when the person hopes to get a bigger or faster therapeutic response from medications such as sleeping or weight loss pills. It can also happen when the person wants to “get high,” which is an example of prescription drug abuse. (source FDA.gov)

So therefore the answer would more likely be; No, because he followed the doasage instructions.

All of this is assuming he didnt take another pain pill for his leg as well as his tooth, in which case it would be more than the dosage, which would make the answer, Yes because he used it for his tooth not his hip.

Hope this helps!

Answer 2

Yes, Wally did abuse his prescription drug. If a drug is made for a certain purpose, one can't use it for anything else, meaning that the answer is Yes, because he used it for his tooth and not his hip. Wally could've used a different medication for his tooth. In addition, prescription drug abuse is the use of a prescription medication in a way not intended by the prescribing doctor.