Presented by Nora D. Volkow, M.D. Director, National Institute on Drug Abuse National Institutes of Health Department of Health and Human ServicesCongressional Caucus
Thank you for inviting the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), an agency of the Department of Health and Human Services, to participate in this forum and contribute what I believe will be useful insight into the growing public health problem of prescription drug abuse in this country.
Introduction to the Problem
In 2009, 7 million Americans reported current (past month) nonmedical use * of prescription drugs—more than the number using cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens, and inhalants combined 1. National surveys show that the number of new abusers of several classes of prescription drugs increased markedly in the United States in the 1990s 2, continuing at high rates during the past decade—abuse of prescription drugs now ranks second (after marijuana) among illicit drug users 3. Perhaps even more disturbing, approximately 2.2 million Americans used pain relievers nonmedically for the first time in 2009 (initiates of marijuana use were 2.4 million).
