US public unaware of Rx painkiller risks

The results of a major new national US survey of over 1,500 people provide the first in-depth look at how Americans view opioid addiction - addiction to heroin or prescription opioid painkillers - and its treatments. Prescription Painkiller/Heroin Addiction and Treatment reveals roughly half (46%) of the respondents do not understand that prescription opioid painkiller abuse is as harmful as heroin abuse in terms of how it affects the body.

The significance of the public's misunderstanding of this danger is underlined by another major survey finding - nearly four in 10 Americans (37%) surveyed know someone personally who has abused opioid painkillers. Drugmaker Reckitt Benckiser Pharmaceuticals sponsored the survey, conducted by Schulman, Ronca & Bucuvalas.

Although abuse of prescription opioid painkillers is beginning to be recognized as a significant aspect of drug abuse in the USA, to date there are no available data on what the public understands about the disease of opioid dependence (ie, addiction) and its treatment.