Help make people aware of how prescription drugs are so easily prescribed by neglectful doctors, creating a new epidemic of addiction and tearing families apart. Help make a difference and spread the word. The true scale of the issue is not very well known, because there's been more concern about the abuse of illicit drugs over the past 20 years and, more recently, about binge drinking. Prescription drug abuse and dependence has been off the radar, which is a serious problem. A few years ago, it was estimated 300,000 Australians were dependent on benzodiazepines (tranquilisers or sleeping pills) and somewhere between 75,000 and 100,000 had an addiction to opioids. That's compared to just 75,000 users of heroin at the same time. One of the new phenomena in Australia is that fewer people are taking heroin, but they're taking prescription drugs, instead. Some people crush them up, filter them or inject them. Addicts are even doing it with codeine-containing drugs such as Panadeine and Panadeine Forte. And don't expect local prescription drug addicts to look like strung-out junkies and hang out on street corners. Many of them are housewives, parents and professionals whose addiction developed after first going to their doctors with an honest health issue. (Medicine: Killers at the Chemist - http://media.causes.com/ ribbon/988796)