Prescription Drug Abuse On The Rise In Rural Areas

Prescription drug abuse and fraud is at an all time high, and rural residents of West Virginia are becoming a target. The West Virginia University Health Sciences and News Service recently reported that the greatest increases of deaths from drug overdoses are in rural areas. Between 1999 and 2004, West Virginia saw the number of deaths related to drug overdoses rise 550 percent. This was the largest increase out of any state in the country. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services conducted a national survey on drug abuse and discovered that 2.1 million teenagers reported abusing prescription drugs in 2006 alone. In 2005 it was reported that 250,000 West Virginia residents had used some kind of prescribed substance for non-medical reasons. After successfully suing Purdue Pharma, West Virginia and several other states used the money received to create day report centers in order to provide prescription drug abusers with support and rehabilitation. A prescription drug abuse hotline was also set up. The hotline number is 1-866-WV-QUITT (1-866-987-8488).