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How Young Adults Obtain Prescription Pain Relievers for Nonmedical Use

The NSDUH Report:  How Young Adults Obtain Prescription Pain Relievers for Nonmedical Use

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Highlights:

  • SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that 4 million young adults aged 18 to 25 (12.4%) used prescription pain relievers (analgesics) such as OxyContin® nonmedically within the past year in 2005; in addition, 1.7% of the young adults met the criteria for dependence or abuse of prescription pain relievers in the past year. This report presents data on the source of these prescription pain relievers that were used nonmedically by young adults.
  • Among the young adult nonmedical users of pain relievers in the past year, 53% obtained the pain relievers that they last used nonmedically from a friend or relative for free.
  • The past year young adult nonmedical users pain relievers who met the criteria for prescription pain reliever dependence or abuse obtained their most recently used pain relievers from the following sources: 37.5% obtained them for free from a friend or relative, 19.9% bought them from a friend or relative, and 13.% obtained them from one doctor.

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This Short Report, The NSDUH Report:  How Young Adults Obtain Prescription Pain Relievers for Nonmedical Use, is based on SAMHSA's  National Survey on Drug Use and Health, formerly called the National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA).  The NSDUH/NHSDA is conducted by the Office of Applied Studies (OAS) in the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).  SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) is the primary source of information on the prevalence, patterns, and consequences of drug and alcohol use and abuse in the general U.S. civilian non institutionalized population, age 12 and older.   SAMHSA's National Survey on Drug Use & Health also provides estimates for drug use by State.

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This page was last updated on November 14, 2006.

SAMHSA, an agency in the Department of Health and Human Services, is the Federal Government's lead agency for improving the quality and availability of substance abuse prevention, addiction treatment, and mental health services in the United States.

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