Prescription Drug Abuse Statistics

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Prescription drug abuse has become endemic in Western society, emerging as one of the biggest (if not +the+ biggest) substance abuse problems we have, as the facts and statistics outlined below clearly show. Keep in mind that these findings reflect only obvious misuse, and do not take into consideration the millions of people who are addicted to prescription medications like Xanax or Zoloft to manage their everyday existence. These users may have a valid prescription, but it’s a type of addiction nonetheless that is recognized by the American Psychiatric Association. Here is a look at the scope of the problem:

  1. Prescription drugs are now second only to marijuana in terms of illicit use. (Haroutunian, 2013, p. 184)

  1. The number of people abusing prescription drugs is more than the number who abuse cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin combined. (Prentiss, 2008)

  1. 5.2 million people over the age of 12 admitted to using prescription painkillers nonmedically in the previous month, according to a survey by SAMHSA. (Kluger, 9-13-2010)

  1. Approximately 3-5% of the population abuses sedatives like Valium. (Hanson et al., 2004)

  1. According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Center for Substance Prevention, as of 2003 there were around 800,000 websites that would ship addictive prescription drugs, no questions asked. (CSAP/SAMHSA, 2003)

  1. In 2008, ERs saw an estimated 1 million visits related to prescription drug abuse, about the same as all other illegal drugs. Just 5 years earlier, illegal drug visits had outnumbered legal medications by a 2 to 1 margin. (Stobbe, 2010)

  1. In 1990 there were barely 6,000 deaths from accidental drug poisoning in the U.S. By 2017 this had climbed to 27,658, largely due to prescription drug abuse. (Kluger, 2010)

Statistics on prescription opioid abuse

  1. In 2010, Americans filled 254 million prescriptions for pain-killing opioid drugs such as OxyContin and Percoset. For perspective, this is enough to medicate every American adult around the clock for a month. (The Week, 11-25-2011, p. 22)

  1. There are 650,000 prescriptions for opioids filled each and every day. (Boxer, 2017)

  1. Since 1990, there has been a tenfold increase in prescriptions for opioids in the U.S., according to the CDC. (Kluger, 9-13-2010)

  1. Among U.S. soldiers, 22% had abused prescription drugs in the past year, and 13% had done so in the past month in 2008–more than triple the 4% who admitted such behavior 3 years earlier in 2005. (Zoroya, 12-17-2009)

  1. The number of overdose deaths from prescription opioids nearly quadrupled between 2001 and 2015, to 22,584, according to the CDC. Heroin overdose deaths (which are often spurred by prescription drug abuse) increased sevenfold in the same time span. (Canal, 2017)

  1. Medicaid patients are prescribed opioid painkillers at double the rate of non-Medicaid patients and are 3- to 6-times more likely to overdose. (Wall Street Journal, 10-27-2017, A14)


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