Colorado and Prescription drug abuse
Recently, a study was published entitled, “Colorado Plan to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse” by the state of Colorado (www.colorado.gov)
Although many believe marijuana to be the only major drug problem affecting Colorado, the use of prescription drugs is also very high and concerning.
In fact, in the executive summary section of the report, it concludes that, “Colorado ranks second worst among all states for prescription drug misuse. More than 255,000 Coloradans misuse prescription drugs, and deaths involving the use of opioids nearly quadrupled between 2000 and 2011.
Many states in the US are experiencing similar findings with prescription drug abuse being the fastest growing drug problem in the US, especially among teens. The report indicates that Colorado created a year long Policy Academy to Reduce Prescription Drug Abuse. This Academy, “supported the development of comprehensive state strategic plans to reduce prescription drug abuse. States participated in a competitive grant process and Colorado, along with Alabama, Oregon, New Mexico, Arkansas, Kentucky and Virginia were each awarded $45,000 grants to facilitate the strategic planning process.
4.6% of individuals in the US abused prescription drugs in the year 2010, according to the report. The report indicates further, that Colorado has 6% of it population aged 12-16 (1.4% above the national average) abusing prescription drugs, and 14% of the Colorado population ages 18-25 (9.4% above the national average) abusing prescription drugs. However, the population aged above 22 actually abused prescription drugs less than the national average at 4.4%.
source: colorado.gov