HOW PEOPLE OBTAIN THE PRESCRIPTION PAIN RELIEVERS THEY MISUSE-SAMHSA (hint, not from a physician)

he most common source was “from a friend or relative for free” (50.5 percent; Figure 1). About 1 in 5 people said that they obtained the prescription pain relievers they had most recently misused from one doctor (22.1 percent), and an additional 3.1 percent said they obtained them from more than one doctor. Only 4.8 percent of people who misused prescription pain relievers in the past year indicated that they had bought the prescription pain relievers they had most recently misused from a drug dealer or other stranger. About 4.4 percent of people who misused prescription pain relievers in the past year said they took the pain relievers from a friend or relative without asking. About 4.1 percent of people who misused prescription pain relievers indicated that they obtained their most recently misused pain relievers from other sources.⁷ For example, one other source was the Internet. Only 0.1 percent of people aged 12 or older used the Internet to obtain prescription pain relievers (data not shown).