When you need prescription medicine, you trust your doctors to give you medication that’s safe for you to take. But doctors aren’t the only people involved in the process of you getting medicine. Drug manufacturers could skip testing and push a drug on the market before it’s ready. Pharmacists could dispense the wrong medication. If someone in this process acts negligently, you could unknowingly be taking the wrong drug that could be harmful to you.
Serious side effects can threaten your health and wellbeing. If you’ve been hurt because of a drug, a Columbia, SC dangerous drugs lawyer from the Solomon Law Group can help you with your claim. You may be able to get compensation for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and lost wages.
What Makes a Drug Dangerous?
Any drug can technically be dangerous if it isn’t taken for its intended use. But certain medications are labelled as dangerous because people who take them for their intended use can still experience major side effects. Dangerous drugs have the following risks:
- High Potential for Abuse
- Increased Risk of Dependence
Because of the ways these drugs affect people, they may become addicted to the drugs and still crave them after their prescription has run out. Abusing the drug could lead to people taking more than the directions say and risk overdosing.
It’s also important to note that these drugs can have interactions with other things in your body. They can interact with other drugs, food and alcohol, or other medical conditions. If you take more than one kind of drug, they could lessen each other’s affects. Mixing alcohol with a drug could make you tired and slow your reaction time. This drug may also affect an existing condition you have and make you experience side-effects. This is why these drugs require a prescription so your doctor knows what you’re taking and your medical condition and if you can take certain dangerous drugs.
Top 5 Dangerous Drugs
The FDA categorizes drugs in schedules depending on their medical use and risk of abuse. There are five schedules, with Schedule 1 containing the most dangerous drugs that aren’t accepted for medical use. Drugs that have medical use but have a high risk of taking them are labeled under Schedule II. All these drugs require a prescription and have a chance of having major drug interactions with alcohol and other drugs.
- Hydrocodone. This is a component of Vicodin, which is used to treat severe pain.
- Hydromorphone. Used to make Dilaudid, hydromorphone is another painkiller.
- Meperidine. Demerol contains meperidine and is used for short or sudden episodes of pain. It shouldn’t be used for chronic pain.
- Oxycodone. OxyContin can relieve serious ongoing pain. Cancer patients may use this drug.
- Fentanyl. Some people already on other narcotics may have breakthrough pain. When this occurs, doctors can prescribe fentanyl to treat that pain.
Why Keep Dangerous Drugs on the Market?
While there is a considerable risk involved with these drugs, there are people who need them for pain relief. They’re not on the market for people to use if they have a slight pain. These drugs are for cancer patients or people with severe illnesses that causes debilitating pain.
When doctors prescribe this medication, they take a lot about their patient into consideration. They start on a low dosage and slowly increase it until it’s at the appropriate dosage for their patient. Doctors also explain to their patients that these medications may be addictive. Even though they pose some serious issues, there are people to depend on them and need them to stay on the market.
