Experts find that ER visits are increasing due to opiate abuse

According to a 2010 study by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the number of individuals seeking rehab for opiate addiction increase by 400 percent from a decade ago.

Furthermore, research from the Drug Abuse Warning Network shows that medical treatment as a result of opiate abuse has doubled in the last five years. For instance, there were 627,000 emergency room visits as a result of prescription drug abuse in 2008. However, in 2009 nearly 1.2 million ER visits were recorded.

“When you see a 98 percent increase [in hospital visits] and you think about the cost involved in lives and families, not to mention dollars, it’s pretty startling,” said R. Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Experts offered advice on how to spot opiate addiction in individuals, such as if an individual needs more of the prescription medication to achieve the same effect, they may have developed a unhealthy dependence to the medicine.

Furthermore, obsession with the drug, discomfort between prescribed dosages, secretive behavior and difficulties with everyday duties may be other signs that individuals are suffering from drug addiction.