Propensities of Addiction to Prescription Drugs - Essay Example

"Propensities of Addiction to Prescription Drugs" is a perfect example of a paper on addiction. 
The subject of the paper is on addiction to prescription drugs. The research questions could be streamlined to focus more on the factors that contribute to greater incidences or continued increasing trends for manifesting addiction to prescription drugs, particularly the top prescription drug identified to be most addictive: Hydrocodone (The 7 Most Addictive Prescription Medications).

Why this topic is important to me:

The topic is important since one has acknowledged that even in contemporary times where medical discoveries and advances continue to emerge, the problem of addiction seems to be excessively difficult to solve. Just like what happened to Michael Jackson, his life was regrettably lost through an untimely death due to drug abuse. It is therefore evident that some factors make addiction more possible and even people with unlimited resources could fall trap into this dilemma. As such, one would like to know what are the root causes which lead people to develop a habit of a destructive path of addiction to prescriptive drugs. In the end, a recommendation portion aims to emphasize alternative courses of action towards a solution; which would be more towards proposing preventive measures, rather than curative – which, until now, remain unsuccessful.

Statement of Purpose:

The purpose of the research is to identify the factors that contribute to increased

susceptibility to be addicted to prescription medications. As such, serious questions could be written as follows:

• Why is there a need to prescribe prescription medicines which are known to be highly addictive?
• Who are the people who have mostly prescribed these kinds of prescription medications?
• What are prescription medications?
• What signs and symptoms could be manifested by patients to exhibit some form of dependencies on prescription medications?
• How could health practitioners assess early addiction signs to prescription drugs?
• What methods and techniques are currently available to counter addiction to prescription drugs?
• How can addiction to prescription drugs be cured?
• Has health organizations designed regulations that would ensure that prescription medications are strictly monitored, in terms of dispensation and sale?
• Are there penalties or fines imposed for individuals who have been noted to be purchasing prescription drugs in frequencies and dosages that are over the limit?

Background:

The interest in prescription medication stemmed from an acquaintance whose father, diagnosed with diabetes, eventually got addicted to prescription medication. The agony and challenges that the family endured in the process were just excruciating to know. One wondered how ordinary people could assist in the process through preventive measures; or through identifying that at some point in time when the addiction could still be in the early stages, the individual concerned could be assisted by preventing access to these prescription medicines. One could deduce that the tendencies to develop the addiction were a process of failure to identify warning signs; as well as laxity in dispensing and administering these prescription medications on a frequency and dosage that leads to destruction and complete addiction.

            Likewise, the much-publicized experience of Michael Jackson is an attestation to the continually pervading problem. What is more disturbing is the fact that he has the financial resources, that worked, obviously to his detriment in enabling him to purchase these prescription drugs without proper monitoring and guidance. For people like him, one is intrigued, as to what specific factors could have led him to this addiction; and how come no health practitioner was able to provide much-needed assistance and medical intervention that could have cured this addiction if it was still possible.

Problems:

The potential problems for this kind of research are seen to be as follows: (1) the magnitude of information that is accessible; (2) the medical details that need to be incorporated in the study to provide an explanation on the addictive properties of the drug; (3) soliciting updated statistics on the subject.

These problems could be solved through the following: (1) the sources of information could be streamlined to journals or authoritative sources within the last five years to increase applicability and reliability; (2) it might not be necessary to include medical details to understand the addictive properties of the drug; and (3) statistical information from reputable health organizations on the subject could be generated online through persistence and diligence. The latest possible data could be used, cited, and referenced accordingly.