scholarly journals Preventing Prescription Drug Misuse: A Regulatory Perspective in the United States, Europe, and India

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (4) ◽  
pp. 46-52
Author(s):  
Dhruvi B Thakker ◽  
Kalpana G Patel

Prescription medicines, such as analgesics, stimulants, steroids, anti-depressants, psychotropics, and certain antibiotics are commonly mishandled in a variety of ways, including overdosing, abuse, diversion, and drug trafficking. Because of the considerable risk to public health, they are subject to strict regulatory oversight. The drugs possess abuse potential at specific dose and hence prone to abuse therefore they are categorized as Controlled substances. Therefore, they are subject to constant vigilance over the pharmaceutical supply chain. The complete clinical data as well as post marketing surveillance study of such drugs are critical to be in place as per the regulatory requirements. The countries have kept up with the times by constantly updating the system with regulatory laws and strategies to prevent cases of misuse. The current review will give a quick summary of how prescription medications and prohibited substances are regulated in the United States, Europe, and India. It will also emphasize current trends in drug usage, as well as the issues that these countries face and the preventive policies implemented to manage and prevent drug misuse. It will also make recommendations for new regulatory initiatives to address the current drug- misuse-related concerns. As a result, a review of the regulatory system in various countries will present current challenges and new lessons for countries around the globe.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Kelly Gagnon ◽  
Jessica Frankeberger ◽  
Stephanie Corey ◽  
Barbara L. Folb ◽  
Christina Mair ◽  
...  

  Background: The United States Institute of Medicine (IOM) published reports in 1999 and 2011 identifying drug use as a priority area for sexual minority health research, specifically focused on mechanisms contributing to drug use disparities and the development of tailored interventions. Limited research has prioritized sexual minority women (SMW) with the majority of substance use research among sexual minorities focused on adolescents and men who have sex with men. This scoping review will characterize the research literature related to illicit drug use and prescription drug misuse among SMW and sub-groups within the SMW population. Through this, we will identify: (1) specific substances used; (2) patterns of substance use; (3) risk and protective factors; (4) prevention interventions; and (5) drug treatment programs specific to SMW. Methods/Design: This review will include studies with empirical data of illicit or prescription drug misuse among sexual minority women. Peer-reviewed quantitative research conducted in the United States and published in English from 2011-Present will be included. We will search Medline, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases for relevant articles. Two independent reviewers will screen abstracts and relevant full-text studies for eligibility. Data will be extracted from eligible articles and results will be presented in narrative and tabular form as appropriate. Discussion: This work will identify gaps of knowledge in the research pertaining to illicit or prescription drug misuse among sexual minority women since the 2011 US IOM report. As a result of this work, we will propose directions for future research to address identified gaps.


10.2196/17073 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. e17073
Author(s):  
Joshua C Black ◽  
Zachary R Margolin ◽  
Richard A Olson ◽  
Richard C Dart

Background Between 2016 and 2017, the national mortality rate involving opioids continued its escalation; opioid deaths rose from 42,249 to 47,600, bringing the public health crisis to a new height. Considering that 69% of adults in the United States use online social media sites, a resource that builds a more complete understanding of prescription drug misuse and abuse could supplement traditional surveillance instruments. The Food and Drug Administration has identified 5 key risks and consequences of opioid drugs—misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, and death. Identifying posts that discuss these key risks could lead to novel information that is not typically captured by traditional surveillance systems. Objective The goal of this study was to describe the trends of online posts (frequency over time) involving abuse, misuse, addiction, overdose, and death in the United States and to describe the types of websites that host these discussions. Internet posts that mentioned fentanyl, hydrocodone, oxycodone, or oxymorphone were examined. Methods Posts that did not refer to personal experiences were removed, after which 3.1 million posts remained. A stratified sample of 61,000 was selected. Unstructured data were classified into 5 key risks by manually coding for key outcomes of misuse, abuse, addiction, overdose, and death. Sampling probabilities of the coded posts were used to estimate the total post volume for each key risk. Results Addiction and misuse were the two most commonly discussed key risks for hydrocodone, oxycodone, and oxymorphone. For fentanyl, overdose and death were the most discussed key risks. Fentanyl had the highest estimated number of misuse-, overdose-, and death-related mentions (41,808, 42,659, and 94,169, respectively). Oxycodone had the highest estimated number of abuse- and addiction-related mentions (3548 and 12,679, respectively). The estimated volume of online posts for fentanyl increased by more than 10-fold in late 2017 and 2018. The odds of discussing fentanyl overdose (odds ratios [OR] 4.32, 95% CI 2.43-7.66) and death (OR 5.05, 95% CI 3.10-8.21) were higher for social media, while the odds of discussing fentanyl abuse (OR 0.10, 95% CI 0.04-0.22) and addiction (OR 0.24, 95% CI 0.15-0.38) were higher for blogs and forums. Conclusions Of the 5 FDA-defined key risks, fentanyl overdose and death has dominated discussion in recent years, while discussion of oxycodone, hydrocodone, and oxymorphone has decreased. As drug-related deaths continue to increase, an understanding of the motivations, circumstances, and consequences of drug abuse would assist in developing policy responses. Furthermore, content was notably different based on media origin, and studies that exclusively use either social media sites (such as Twitter) or blogs and forums could miss important content. This study sets out sustainable, ongoing methodology for surveilling internet postings regarding these drugs.


2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (11) ◽  
pp. 1454-1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas J. Mowen ◽  
Taylor Tolles ◽  
Ryan D. Schroeder

Pain Medicine ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1078-1091 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabarun Dasgupta ◽  
Elise J. Bailey ◽  
Theodore Cicero ◽  
James Inciardi ◽  
Mark Parrino ◽  
...  

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