Thirty-one of 75 patients hospitalized for opioid detoxification told physicians they first became addicted to drugs legitimately prescribed for pain. Another 24 patients started their addiction with prescription pills from a friend or a parent’s medicine cabinet. The remaining 20 patients said they became addicted on street drugs.
This information was reported to physicians at the University of Buffalo. Ninety two percent of the patients in the study said they eventually purchased drugs off the street, primarily heroin, because it is cheaper and more effective than prescription drugs.
They told the physicians that they continued using drugs because they "helped to take away my emotional pain and stress," "to feel normal," or "to feel like a better person."
The information will be used to train medical students and residents at the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and practicing physicians to screen for potential addiction among their patients, and to direct patients to a treatment program if necessary.
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