Throughout November, we’ve been highlighting how the Randox clinical teams – Randox Rx series, Randox Reagents and Randox QC – are aiding the fight against drugs of abuse.

Drugs of Abuse are a growing problem worldwide and represent a significant burden to healthcare systems as well as creating problems in an individual’s lifestyle. It has been estimated by the WHO (World Health Organisation) that 31 million people globally suffer from drug use disorders and 3.3 million deaths each year are linked to the abuse of both drugs and alcohol.

The abuse of drugs is one of the most pressing issues in the United States of America. Drug abuse not only affects the individual, but also can have far-reaching consequences that affect family, employment, personal health, health care systems, local communities, and society as a whole.

• Misuse of illicit drugs affects society through secondary costs incurred such as crime, reduced productivity at work, and health care expenses.
• Substance abuse costs the US health care system about $11 billion, with overall costs reaching $193 billion.
• Substance abuse and addiction also affects other areas of life and can cause broken families, destroyed careers, death due to negligence or accident, domestic violence, physical abuse and child abuse.
• Drug abuse and addiction changes the chemistry of your brain. The longer you use your drug of choice, the more damage is caused and it becomes more difficult to return to ‘normal’ during drug rehabilitation.
• In 2013, 22.7 million Americans needed treatment for a substance use disorder – almost 9% of the population over the age of 12. Only about 2.5 million received treatment as a specialist facility with 20% of admissions for opiate addication treatment and 17% for the treatment of marijuana abuse.

To find out more about how Randox is helping in the fight against Drugs of Abuse, please visit https://www.randox.com/drugs-of-abuse/ or for more information about Randox RX, Randox Reagents or Randox QC, please email marketing@randox.com.