Complete Article found on  Essential of Correctional Nursing

July 3, 2014 by Catherine Knox
Last week’s post described the epidemic of prescription drug abuse in the United States and the impact on the nation’s jails and prisons. This week we return to the same subject but focus on the problem of prescription drug diversion during incarceration. There are many more medications available and appropriate to be used in treatment today than when I started in nursing 40 years ago. Just to illustrate there were an average of 13 prescriptions written in 2011 for every person in the United States. At one of the jails I am familiar with an average of 24 prescriptions per inmate are filled each month.