Final answer:
Prescription medication abuse spans all demographics but has recently increased among local seniors. Opioid painkillers contribute significantly to this issue, leading to nationwide addiction and overdose instances. The affordability and availability of heroin have also steered some from prescription opioids to more dangerous substances.
Step-by-step explanation:
Those who are using Prescription Medications (PM) range across all demographics, but a notable increase has been observed among local senior citizens compared to the national average. A local survey indicated that 65 out of 100 seniors reported using prescription medication in the past month, which is slightly higher than the 60 out of 100 reported in the national survey. Prescription medication abuse can include anything from taking prescribed medication in doses too high, to the misuse of over-the-counter medications. This is a significant issue as prescription drugs, particularly opioids, have been linked to addiction and overdose risks.
The opioid epidemic affects every ethnic, age, gender, and socioeconomic category and has been propelled by a dramatic increase in the prescriptions for painkillers, from about 76 million in 1991 to 219 million in 2011. With the influx of illegal drugs such as heroin, which is cheaper and easier to obtain than prescription painkillers, many individuals who developed an addiction to prescription opioids have turned to heroin. This has contributed to a surge in drug overdoses from opioids. Aggressive policing of pill mills, the reformulation of drugs like Oxycodone, and the scarcity and increased street cost of prescription pain pills have led to a rise in the use of deadlier alternatives like heroin, Fentanyl, and synthetic opioids.