Prescription Abuse to Pass Illicit Drugs, Group Says
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http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1595008,00.html
Thursday, Mar. 01, 2007 By AP/WILLIAM J. KOLE
VIENNA, Austria Abuse of prescription drugs is about to exceed
the use of illicit street narcotics worldwide, and the shift has
spawned a lethal new trade in counterfeit painkillers, sedatives
and other medicines potent enough to kill, a global watchdog
warned Wednesday.
Prescription drug abuse already has outstripped traditional
illegal drugs such as heroin, cocaine and Ecstasy in parts of
Europe, Africa and South Asia, the U.N.-affiliated International
Narcotics Control Board said in its annual report for 2006.
In the United States alone, the abuse of painkillers,
stimulants, tranquilizers and other prescription medications has
gone beyond "practically all illicit drugs with the exception of
cannabis," with users increasingly turning to them first, the
Vienna-based group said.
Unregulated markets in many countries make it easy for
traffickers to peddle a wide variety of counterfeit drugs using
courier services, the mail and the Internet.
Discount medications that seem to be authentic often turn out to
be powerful knockoffs concocted >from recipes posted on the Web.
Up to 50 percent of all drugs taken in developing countries are
believed to be counterfeit.
Exact figures are unavailable because few countries "are aware
to what extent drugs are being diverted and abused" and are not
tracking the trend. Nations should pay closer attention and
share data on counterfeit drug seizures.
The Report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2006
can be downloaded as Adobe PDF file (120 pp. 2.0 MB):
English: http://www.incb.org/pdf/e/ar/2006/annual-report-2006-en.pdf
French: http://www.incb.org/pdf/f/ar/2006/annual-report-2006-fr.pdf
Spanish: http://www.incb.org/pdf/s/ar/2006/annual-report-2006-es.pdf