Prescription Drug Abuse

More accidental deaths are now caused by drug overdoses than by car accidents. According to the 2011 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), more than six million Americans abuse prescription drugs. That same study revealed more than 70 percent of people abusing prescription pain relievers got them through friends or relatives, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet.

Key Priorities

• Prescription Drug Abuse
• Internet and International Pharmacies
• Synthetic Drugs

Op-Eds

• Attorney General Eric Holder on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
• United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan Joins “Medicine Abuse Project” Initiative

Multimedia

• The Opiate Effect Video

Initiatives & Partners

• DEA Drug Take Back
• Medicine Abuse Awareness Project
• USAOs Involved in Prevention

Events

• SAMSA National Prevention Week 2013, May 12-18, 2013
• Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) coordinated National Take Back Day on Saturday, April 27, 2013
• National Rx Drug Abuse Summit, April 2-4, 2013
• National Drug Facts Week, January 28 – February 3, 2013

In the News

• Justice Department Opiate Prevention Film Nominated For New England Emmy Award
• UPS Agrees To Forfeit $40 Million In Payments From Illicit Online Pharmacies For Shipping Services
• Nine Sentenced For Illegally Distributing Controlled Substances Over The Internet
  
• Leader Of Interstate Online Pill Mill Sentenced To More Than Eight Years In Prison And Ordered To Pay $3.8 Million
• Alleged International Drug Trafficker Extradited From The Czech Republic To The United States

More Resources

• Attorney General Eric Holder Speaks at the Opiate Abuse Conference
• Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis
• University of Maryland’s Center for Substance Abuse (CESAR)