Criminal Act

I always have wondered when young people talk about their prescription drug use as a recreational high, where did they come from. You hear these kids that participate in these activities talk about how they bought them, what happened after they took them, and most of them say they would buy them again. In my experience, I know they are readily available and some people take advantage of the people who share their illegal prescription drugs.

As I said earlier, in my job shadow experience all the pharmacists are very careful with all the logging and counting of these "C II's" which are well known and possible substance abuse pills. They are counted, re-counted, written in a book, and then signed with a date and time. That is why I question, where do these come from? Also how are they all so readily available?

The first people I question are the doctors. As I assume, these drugs on the street are excess of legitimately filled prescriptions. So why do these people have so many extra or are not in need of them? The first and only people that control quantity are the doctors. The way society has become, doctors are one of the people we trust most. We go to them with sickness, pain, almost anything life threatening or not. I understand some people need pain medication for extreme circumstances and various other reasons. The doctors prescribe the amount they see fit for the extent and the pain of the injury or situation. They are innocent as long as they file a legal prescription and use their best judgment for the order. The pharmacists don't have much to do with the prescription except to fill it. They can't change or alter the prescription without doctor consent. So it moves on to be sold to the specific person's name who is on that order.

The next people that come up are the patients. They need the prescription that comes up, so we assume. Most of the "C II" prescriptions are needed for behavioral of extreme pain medications, which anyone would think that patient would need every last one of them. That is where the confusion comes in. If the patient needs these pills so badly that a doctor would go ahead and write a prescription, how are they being sold? I know with my experience, getting my wisdom teeth out to be specific, they do give you a few more to hold you over until a refill comes in. I was on pain medication and I did see that after I no longer had any pain, there were still pills left. Which all come back to the doctors. Why was I prescribed more pills then needed?

This is where the streets come in. People longing for money and looking for any way to get it, this is their golden treasure. Advertise to a few friends you have some pills, set a price, and make some fast money on the street. People who are selling these drugs are not worried about the kids health, the effects that could happen, or where the kids will end up. The money is key for anyone who tries to sell these illegal prescriptions on the street.

In my opinion, to stop this illegal use of prescription drugs, the doctors should be more carefully configuring the amount given to people with the risk flagged pills. There are to many close calls and even deaths with kids getting ahold of prescription pills off the street. Thinking and also talking to a pharmacist during my job shadow, this is a frustrating subject even for them because they deal with it also. They have to log and be careful and responsible for everything they do while handling these pills because of these people who sell them. A simple legal prescription, filled by a pharmacist, and taken my the patient become a dangerous substance on the street. Somehow, this can be limited or stopped.