Prescription Drug Abuse And The Treatment Of Attention...

Prescription drug abuse has been around since doctors started prescribing medication, but widespread prescription drug abuse and addiction has only surfaced in the last 20 years or so. Unfortunately because these drugs are continued to be abuse widely, there are concerns for physicians who are legitimately prescribing these medications to patients who truly need them. However there are doctors who recklessly prescribe these drugs to unknowing patients who form addictions to them. Prescription medications commonly abused include opioids often prescribed to treat pain, central nervous system depressants used to treat anxiety, and stimulants used for the treatment of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) as well as some sleeping disorders. OxyContin, a widely abused prescription opioid was synthesized from thebaine, an organic chemical found in opium. Oxycodone was synthesized in 1916 in Frankfurt, Germany in Bayer Pharmaceutical labs shortly after the company stopped the mass production of heroin. Oxycodone was hoped to contain the strong analgesic affects of morphine and heroin with less dependence. Oxycodone clinical trials began in 1917 and the drug was introduced on the market in May of 1939. In 1969 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime classified oxycodone as a dangerous drug as part of The Dangerous Drug (Amendment) Ordinance. 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