Most Opiate Abusers Get Pills from Friends or Family – Not from Doctors

According to research published in The Archives of Internal Medicine – most of the millions of Americans abusing opiate medications are getting these drugs from friends or family members, and not from legitimate medical sources.

Looking at data from the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health researchers at Yale University found that:

• Only 20% of drug abusers use legitimate prescriptions as their primary source of access to drugs
• 69% of drug abusers list friends or family as their primary source of drugs, and for users between the ages of 18 and 25, that percentage shoots up to 77%
• Only 3% of people using legitimately prescribed opiates will become addicted
• 80% of OxyContin abusers have also used cocaine