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Early Use of Prescription Drugs |
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According to a national household survey* , the non-medical
use of prescription drugs by young people makes them more likely to be diagnosed
with lifetime drug abuse and prescription drug dependence to those same or other prescription
drugs.
An estimated 42% of those who reported that their first
non-medical use of prescription drugs was at age 13 or younger also had a
lifetime diagnosis of prescription drug abuse, compared to 17% of those who
first used prescription drugs non-medically at age 21 or older. Results found
for lifetime drug dependence were similar (25% vs. 7%).
These results seem to indicate what has long been suspected
regarding age of initiation into drug abuse being related to prevalence of
later drug dependence or addiction.
Medicine Addiction
*Findings are based on an
analysis of data from the 2001-2002 National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol
and Related Conditions, a household survey of U.S. residents ages 18 and older.
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