National Center for Health Statistics shows nearly half of the adult population has used prescription drugs in the last month

Recent information from the National Center for Health Statistics shows that nearly half of U.S. adults have taken prescription drugs within the past 30 days.  The segment of the population showing the most prescription drug use was white non-Hispanic women (54 percent) and the lowest was Mexican-American men (26 percent).

The goal of the pharmaceutical industry is to make money.  Drug companies are publicly-traded corporations and are not non-profit organizations.  Evidence of this can be found by simply turning on the television and viewing the increasing number of commercials for prescription drugs as part of the direct-to-consumer marketing plans.  U.S. revenues for the pharmaceutical industry have been estimated at $200 billion annually. 

Along with the increase in overall use of prescription drugs comes the rise in abuse and addiction.  A quick scan of headlines reveals the death of a high school athlete from a painkiller, the State of Massachusetts launching a prescription drug awareness media campaign and law enforcement officers from Ohio giving a seminar on spotting emerging trends in prescription drug trafficking and abuse. 

Another article from the Associated Press (AP) reported that there are more estimated deaths in Maine from drug overdoses in 2005 than traffic accidents.  The number of drug overdose deaths has more than doubled in the last five years, which has been primarily attributed to the use of prescription drugs.