A new and growing epidemic of drug abuse has emerged in recent years; people are now choosing prescription pills as their new drug of choice. Prescription drug use, abuse, and deaths have increased significantly over the past two years. All types of prescription pills are more easily available from their doctor, family members or on the street. Doctors hand out prescriptions for pills, such as painkillers, muscle relaxers, and anti-anxiety medications, as if they were candy and not potentially harmful to consumers. In today's society, doctors are prescribing too many pills to Americans and the distribution of prescription pills should be more closely monitored and controlled. Although some people benefit from painkillers, such as terminally ill patients, too many take advantage and abuse them. Opioid analgesics, one of the fastest growing segments of prescription drug abuse, are medications such as Oxycontin. and Vicodin and many other narcotic pills. Side effects of Vicodin include dizziness, sedation, dizziness, mental disturbance, anxiety, fear, dependence, mood changes, respiratory depression, and many others (Spratto and Woods 809 ). More than 201 million prescriptions were written in 2007 for products susceptible to abuse, according to Verispan Prescription Information Database (Hansen). It was the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study that found a 96.6 percent increase in deaths linked to prescription pain pills between 1997 and 2002. During the same period, deaths from to cocaine overdoses increased by 12.9 percent (Hansen). The National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that the number of new nonmedical users of pres...... middle of paper ......amount of pill prescriptions to hopefully, reduce the number of deaths and opportunities for prescription pill abuse among patients. Works Cited Eckles, Crimson. Personal experience. March 2004-May 2007. Hanson, Karmen. “A Pill Problem: Rx Abuse Is Fastest Growing.” » National Conference of State Legislatures. March 2010. The web. June 2, 2011. .Inciardi, PhD, James A. “OPIOIDS, SUBSTANCE ABUSE AND DEPENDENCE SECTION”. Pain medicine. Center for Drug and Alcohol Studies. 2009. Internet. June 2, 2011.Johnson, Jimmy. Personal interview. June 11, 2011. Rodriguez, Joe. Personal interview. June 12, 2011. Spratto, George R. and Adrienne L. Woods. 20th Anniversary Edition 2011 Delmar Nurse's DrugHandbook. Clinton Park: Delmar Cengage Learning, 2011. Print.