Legal but deadly: Prescription drug misuse
About 16 million Americans misuse prescription drugs over the course of a year, including millions of young adults, teens, and even middle-school students. The most commonly misused prescription drugs fall into three categories: opioids, central nervous system (CNS) depressants, and stimulants.
Prescription drug misuse has risen so dramatically in the United States that it has been classified as an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
