Scholarly Writing: Prescription Drug Abuse: Insight into the Epidemic

Scholarly Writing
Name:
Institution:
Article #1
What is the tittle of the document?
Prescription Drug Abuse: Insight into the Epidemic

Who is the author?
S. H. Hernandez & L. S. Nelson

Who is the author’s intended audience?
The audiences targeted by the author include health care practitioners who prescribe different medications that are regularly abused such as drugs to treat pain and anxiety. The information presented is useful to policy makers who are keen on assessing the implications of abuse of prescription drugs and its implications in the society. The information would be critical in driving implementation of effective policies.

What topic is the author addressing in this work?
The author is addressing the epidemic caused by prescription drug abuse.

What is the author’s argument (or thesis) about this topic provide evidence from the text?
The author argues that prescription drug abuse has been determined as an epidemic.
The author explains that larger doses, frequent dosing and the use of the drugs for long-term may result in potential harm.

What evidence is provided to support this argument? List specific examples
The author supports this argument by providing information to about the impacts of non-medical use of prescription drugs, these include causing failure in performing essential obligations such as job roles and school work. Besides, drug use causes substance-related legal problems and also cause persistent social and interpersonal problems.

Are there contradictions in the argument? If so, provide examples
The author states that long-term use of prescribed drugs would result in potential harm. However, these drugs would be required in managing long-term condition such as chronic pain.

Do you trust this source? What are some of the ways you can tell if a source is reliable?
This source is credible.
The resource is not outdated and the authors have supported their arguments using credible resources. Additionally, the resource is a journal article which means the information provided is based on scientific evidence.

What do you think motivated the author to create this source?
The authors may have been motivated by the rising cases of prescription drug abuse that have affected thousands of people and families. The authors may also have been motivated by the need for facilitating regulation to control abuse of prescribed drugs.

What is your overall impression of the interpretation? Is it convincing?
The authors’ views and arguments are well articulated and convince the readers because they address issues that are common the society. Besides, the arguments made by authors have been supported effectively using reliable evidence.

List some facts presented by the author?
The authors explain that prescription drugs can be accessed through safe means than illicit drugs. Twenty percent of teenagers who were admitted for illegal use of analgesics received their medications with a practitioner’s prescription.

List some opinions presented by the author
Authors maintain that effective programs such as the National All Schedules Prescription Electronic
Reporting would help practitioners minimize the use of prescribed drugs and authors explain that Pharmaceutical technology would be used in deterring drug abuse.

What questions does this interpretation raise?
The primary question raised is whether the existing policies and procedures are effective in deterring the abuse of prescribed drugs.

Where could you find answers to these questions?
The answers to this question would be obtained from the relevant government agencies that are tasked with combating the abuse of prescribed drugs. It would also be essential to determine measures used by practitioners to prevent prescription drug abuse.

Article #2
What is the tittle of the document?
Prescription drug abuse: from epidemiology to public policy

Who is the author?
R. Kathryn McHugh, Suzanne Nielsen, B. Pharm & Roger D. Weiss

Who is the author’s intended audience?
The authors targets healthcare practitioner and policy makers

What topic is the author addressing in this work?
The authors examine the epidemic level of prescription drug abuse

What is the author’s argument (or thesis) about this topic provide evidence from the text?
The authors maintain argue that the abuse of prescribed drugs has increased dramatically affecting millions of people every year. The authors support this by indicating that by 2012, the prescription drugs were among the leading abused drugs.

What evidence is provided to support this argument? List specific examples
The authors explain that opioids are the most common abused prescription drugs. About 12.5 million adults abused opioids in 2012. Also, by 2012, 6 million and 3.3 million people abused tranquilizers and stimulants respectively.

Are there contradictions in the argument? If so, provide examples
There are contradictions regarding the access and motives of abusing prescription drugs; for instance, some individuals receive prescription from friends and relatives. However, there are people who would abuse the medications prescribed to them by the doctor.

Do you trust this source? What are some of the ways you can tell if a source is reliable?
This resource is credible because it is recent which makes the information relevant. Besides, the credibility of the authors is supported by their affiliation to different institutions and arguments are supported by credible resources.

What do you think motivated the author to create this source?
The authors were motivated by the need to address the continued increase of prescribed drugs that has affected millions of individuals across the country.

What is your overall impression of the interpretation? Is it convincing?
The resource is convincing because it reflects an issue that affects every community and is based on statistics that shows the extent of the pandemic.

List some facts presented by the author?
It is estimated that by 2012, over 16.7 million people aged twelve years and older abused prescribed drugs in the United States. During the same time the prescription of opioid overdose increased to about 400 percent. Authors point out that abuse of prescribed drugs increased to 12.5 million in 2012 from 4.9 million in 1992.

List some opinions presented by the author
The authors point that biased distribution of prescription drug abuse where high cases are reported among Caucasians and Native Americans

What questions does this interpretation raise?
Critical questions include why are cases of prescription drug abuse high among minority communities? What measures have been implemented to reduce abuse of prescribed drugs?

Where could you find answers to these questions?
The responses to these questions would be received from research studies that evaluate factors that contributed to abuse of prescribed drugs among the poor communities and resources that address measures taken by relevant bodies to curb abuse of prescribed drugs.

Article #3
What is the tittle of the document?
Mandatory Access Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs and Prescription Drug Abuse

Who is the author?
Anca M. Grecu, Dhaval M. Dave & Henry Saffer

Who is the author’s intended audience?
Authors targets health practitioner and policy makers who are essential in promoting programs aimed at preventing abuse of prescription drugs.

What topic is the author addressing in this work?
Authors address a topic on prescription drugs monitoring programs

What is the author’s argument (or thesis) about this topic provide evidence from the text?
The authors assert that Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs will reduce abuse of prescription drugs by tracking prescribing and dispensing of controlled drugs.
The authors explain that these programs will be critical in providing essential information and data regarding the patient’s prescription history to the health practitioner.

What evidence is provided to support this argument? List specific examples
The authors explain that the Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs will help in intensifying patients who are at high risk of misusing and overdoing the prescribed drugs. The Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) maintains that these programs will help states to manage and control prescription drug overdose.

Are there contradictions in the argument? If so, provide examples
The contradictions about this argument include that there are no recent studies that show how the programs have helped in managing the widespread problem of prescribed drug abuse.

Do you trust this source? What are some of the ways you can tell if a source is reliable?
The source is credible. The article was published in 2019 which makes its relevant to the topic. The information provided in supported by credible resources.

What do you think motivated the author to create this source?
The motivation of the authors toward this source is based on the need for facilitating providing interventions to control and prevent abuse of prescribed drugs.

What is your overall impression of the interpretation? Is it convincing?
The impression is convincing because the article articulates an effective approach that would be used in tracking the prescribed drugs until they reach to the patient and would determine likelihood for drug overdose.

List some facts presented by the author?
The authors maintain that doctor shopping is the main source of street dealers and it is the main source of diversion of prescribed drugs. Monitoring programs would help in tracking the controlled drugs.

List some opinions presented by the author
The authors explain that states can conduct regular automated analyses on these programs to help in generating reports to determine how practitioners prescribe and dispense controlled drugs and this information would be used in facilitating disciplinary actions.

What questions does this interpretation raise?
This raises question on whether Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs would be effective in controlling abuse of prescribed drugs.

Where could you find answers to these questions?
The answers to this question would be received by examining the effectiveness of these programs in different states.

Article #4
What is the tittle of the document?
Who is prescribing controlled medications to patients who die of prescription drug abuse?

Who is the author?
Roneet Lev, Oren Lee, Sean Petro, Jonathan Luca, Edward M. Castillo, Gary M. Vilke & Christopher J. Coyne

Who is the author’s intended audience?
The authors target audiences in the healthcare centers who are involved in the prescription of controlled medications.

What topic is the author addressing in this work?
The authors address the topic on death related to prescription of controlled medications.

What is the author’s argument (or thesis) about this topic provide evidence from the text?
The authors argue that prescription drugs have increased the number of complications and fatalities throughout the country.
The author report that in 2013, 254 death related prescription of controlled medication were reported in San Diego.

What evidence is provided to support this argument? List specific examples
The authors report that the number of prescribers of controlled medications hav...