How Big Is the Lortab Abuse in the U.S.?

Published March 21, 2014

Question by kajunguy: how big is the lortab abuse in the U.S.?

Best answer:

Answer by jeffh3000
In a 2003 and 2005 report, the national institutes of health showed some pretty bleak figures.

They estimated that in 2005 that 48 million Americans, 20% of population, had abused prescription drugs.

Based off the 2002 survey, just that year, 4.7 million people used prescription drugs “non-medically” for the first time. This means new abusers of prescription medications on top of exister abusers.

Data for *new abusers* of drugs that year broke down as following:
* 2.5 million used pain relievers
* 1.2 million used tranquilizers
* 761,000 used stimulants
* 225,000 used sedatives

Assuming those numbers are average, then based on total abusers of 48 million would break down as follows:

* 25.5 million used pain relievers
* 12.3 million used tranquilizers
* 7.77 million used stimulants
* 2.3 million used sedatives

lortab is classified as a pain reliever, so it would be part of that 25.5 million abusers