Prescription Drug AbuseDavid was in high school. He started hanging out with the wrong people and smoking marijuana. However, as his senior year of high school approached, he wanted to change his life. He joined the boxing team and stopped doing drugs, but one Saturday night and it all ended. David was hanging out with some friends and he was offered a patch that was supposed to make him feel better. He didn't know what was in the patch, but it contained Fentanyl, a special painkiller for cancer patients. His friend told him to open the patch and eat what was inside. The next morning, David never woke up. Eight weeks later, Liz Wiggins discovered that it was Fentanyl that killed her son (Fox News). “In 2004, 15 million Americans aged 12 and older took prescription drugs and used them for nonmedical purposes” (Prescription Drugs: Their use and Abuse). This article will examine the causes of prescription drug abuse and solutions such as providing more education and mandating distribution of prescription drugs. One of the leading causes of prescription drug abuse is a lack of education among doctors and patients. People commonly use prescription medications to lose weight, get high, and get stronger. Many people who use drugs are unaware of the dangers that exist when using them. Patients generally do not think that these drugs are dangerous because they come from pharmacies and are supplied by doctors. However, prescription drugs can be just as deadly and harmful to your health as a gun or drinking alcohol. Most people don't worry about storing them properly either. If prescription medications are not processed at the recommended temperature, in the right dosage, or taken by the right person, you can take something that was supposed to save lives and turn it into something that can seriously harm you or make you very sick. OxyCotin is one of the most dangerous prescription drugs available today. OxyCotin is a prescription pain reliever designed to slowly release medication over time in the form of a capsule. Abusers get around this by chewing, injecting, and even snorting the medicine in the drug (Meadows, Michelle). Prescription Drugs: Their Use and Abuse indicates that when a person takes more than the safe dose, the drug can actually have very different effects on your body..