119,000,000
The estimated number of Americans over age 12 who took some psychotherapeutic prescription medication last year—that's 44.5 percent of the population. That includes pain relievers (97.5 million people), tranquilizers (39.3 million people), sedatives (18.6 million) and stimulants (17.2 million).
16%
The estimated percentage of this use that was actually misuse of the drug—defined as taking it "in any way that a doctor did not direct you." That includes using drugs from another person's prescription or even using your own prescription more frequently than directed. Overall, an estimated 12.5 million people misused pain relievers, 6.1 million misused tranquilizers, 5.3 million misused stimulants and 1.5 million misused sedatives.
53.7%
The percentage of people who misused pain relievers who got the drug from a friend or relative. About one in three misused their own prescriptions, and about 5 percent bought it from a stranger or drug dealer.
2,700,000
The estimated number of Americans who met the DSM-V criteria for a prescription drug use disorder in the past year. Two million had a pain reliever use disorder, 688,000 had a tranquilizer use disorder, 426,000 had a stimulant use disorder and 154,000 had a sedative use disorder.
Source: Hughes, A., Williams, M. R., Lipari, R. N., Bose, J., Copello, E. A. P., & Kroutil, L. A. (2016, September). Prescription drug use and misuse in the United States: Results from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. NSDUH Data Review. Retrieved from www.samhsa.gov/data/opens in new window