yeah. that's it. [off-key notes] announcer: you don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. when you adopt a child from foster care, just being there makes all the difference. announcer: so, what's the biggest issue in america today? i don't think we're probably ever doing enough for our environment. the war in iraq religious yahoos freedom of speech i get angry about it, but it's like...

ya' know, in my own apartment. i probably believe in all those causes, but i'm...i'm not really doin' anything.

(music) hello, i'm ivette torres, and welcome to another edition of the road to recovery. today we'll be talking about the importance of using prescription and over-the-counter medications properly. joining us in our panel today are dr. h. westley clark, director, center for substance abuse treatment, substance abuse and mental health services administration, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland; dr. timothy condon, deputy director,

national institute on drug abuse, national institutes of health, u.s. department of health and human services, rockville, maryland; dr. barbara krantz, chief executive officer and medical director, hanley center, west palm beach, florida; beverly gmerek, prescription drug abuse prevention program coordinator, peer assistance services inc., denver, colorado. dr. clark, how prevalent is prescription drug misuse in the united states? well, we estimate that there are approximately 15 million people who misuse prescription drugs in the united states, and that gives us an estimated 2.5 million new initiates per year, or, if you think about it, that's about 7,000 new initiates a day. and within that, do one age group uses it more than others?

what is the distribution among the age groups? well, i think the most important thing to keep in mind is that prescription drug abuse affects the entire age range. we might see some peak use in the 18 to 25-year-olds, but it is a problem that confronts every age range, and what we shouldn't do is to simply dismiss it as a young adult or teenage phenomenon; in fact, it's a problem that affects every age range. dr. krantz, where do most of the nonmedical users of prescription drugs get their drugs? most of the time nonmedical users of prescription drugs receive their drugs from friends or their medicine cabinet, their mother's medicine cabinet, from leftover medication. and those that do take it from the medicine cabinet or get it from a friend or a relative,