[5][6] Prescription drug addiction was recognized as a significant public health and law enforcement problem worldwide in the past decade due to its medical and social consequences.

[10] People with acute or chronic pain, anxiety disorders and ADHD were at increased risk for addiction comorbidity.

[11] A person may also gain access to prescription drugs via doctor shopping..[3]: 29  "Doctor shopping" describes a practice in which a person searches for multiple sources of drugs by visiting different health practitioners and presenting a different list of complaints to each practitioner; the patient will then obtain multiple prescriptions and fill them at different pharmacies.

[26] Examples of opioid drugs include morphine, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone, fentanyl, tramadol and methadone.

[28] This class of drugs have been frequently prescribed for patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in many countries.

[35] A major class of sedative-hypnotics causing addiction is benzodiazepines, which includes alprazolam, diazepam, clonazepam and lorazepam.

Due to the CNS effect caused by misuse of medications, people are more likely to have poor judgement and thus engaging in risky behaviors.

[32] Conversely, people with addiction to stimulants often have increased blood pressure, heart rate, body temperature, decreased sleep and appetite.

[45] Benzodiazepine withdrawal symptoms are similar to anxiety, including insomnia, excitability, restlessness, panic attacks and so on.

[49] Additionally, urine drug testing can be an accurate method to measure specific biomarkers after metabolism.

[32]: 162  This type of pharmacotherapy with an opioid agonist or antagonist is adopted widely, together with adjunct psychotherapy to prevent relapse.

[52] However, some agents including bupropion, naltrexone and mirtazapine have demonstrated positive effects in treating addiction to amphetamine-type stimulants.

[56] Patients, healthcare providers, the government, pharmaceutical companies and a variety of stakeholders can contribute to the prevention of prescription drug misuse and its subsequent addiction.

In addition to existing controlled substance scheduling systems, mandatory prescriber registration, education and training, many governments launched various initiatives and regulations to minimize misuse of prescription drugs.

For example, many healthcare providers are legally required to participate in local prescription-drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) to record patient drug use.

[57] Nationwide PDMPS are effective in reducing abuse and diversion of prescription medications, and promote safer prescribing practices for patients.

[62] Addiction disorders affect 20 to 50 percent of hospitalized patients; therefore physicians must integrate basic screening questions into all histories and physical examinations.

[20] They may also use prescription-drug monitoring programs (PDMPs) to track drug prescription and dispensing patterns in patients.

An average of 6 percent of students from the EU and Norway reported lifetime use of sedatives or tranquillizers without a doctor’s prescription.

Methamphetamine use has traditionally been limited to the Czech Republic and Slovakia, although there were signs of increase in other European countries.

[76] Most Asian studies, including those from Japan, Thailand, and Singapore, revealed the existence of prescription drug misuse in Asia, but their prevalence rates were found to be lower than that reported in Western developed countries.