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OTC Drug Abuse
OTC Drug Abuse
Abstract
The vast majority of non-prescription medications marketed over-the-counter (OTC) in
regional pharmacies are believed to be used properly by patients. However, a small
percentage of patients can misuse or abuse these medications. Many surveys in many
countries, for example, have shown that a large percentage of OTC consumers misuse/abuse
these medications. The term abuse refers to the use of medications for non-medical
reasons, while the expression misuse refers to the use of a drug for medical purposes.
Examples of OTC medications that are misused or abused encompass a huge range of
medication. Like amphetamines, ephedrine, caffeine, that are stimulants used mainly
to delay the onset of mental and physical fatigue. Antitussives and expectorants that contain
alcohol, codeine and dextromethorphan. Opioids with psychoactive action present in cold
and cough medications. Laxatives to promote weight loss, anabolic steroids used
to increase the muscle mass and even sildenafil may be overly used in particular via addicts
to counteract the sexual miserable results of opioids.
Introduction
While the potential for OTC medication misuse and abuse is obvious, no tools for
determining the scope of the issue have been established. The possibility that abusers will
frequent several pharmacies in an effort to acquire supplies while avoiding surveillance
complicates quantification. Furthermore, no study into this issue has been undertaken in
Palestine.[1] Some studies were conducted to collect information specifically from local
pharmacists about their understanding of the level of OTC substance misuse, the
medications concerned, and the sort of consumers that they accuse of abusing medicines for
quantification purposes the study produced a questionnaire to be answered anonymously by
volunteer pharmacists. [1] The questionnaire was sent to all community pharmacists in
Palestine's Nablus district. [1]
Table 1 - Distribution of clients according to age group, gender and abused/misused drugs.
[1]
References
[1] W. M. Sweileh, R. T. Arafat, L. S. Al-Khyat, D. M. Al-Masri, and N. A.
Jaradat, “A pilot study to investigate over-the-counter drug abuse
and misuse in Palestine,” Saudi Med. J., vol. 25, no. 12, pp. 2029–
2032, 2004.