July 23, 2010 Child abuse is a serious problem that affects
nearly one million children a year in the United States alone.
The American Academy of Pediatrics and the US Department of
Health and Human Services classify child abuse into four
categories including neglect, physical abuse, sexual abuse, and
emotional abuse. None of these categories, however, clearly
includes the abusive use of drugs on children. A study soon to
be published in the Journal of Pediatrics investigates the
malicious use of pharmaceuticals and attempts to shed light on
this under-recognized problem. Dr. Shan Yin from the University
of Colorado and the Rocky Mountain Poison Drug Center at Denver
Health reviewed cases of pharmaceutical abuse reported to the
National Poison Data System between 2000 and 2008. Dr. Yin
included reports of the malicious use of alcohol, painkillers,
cough and cold medicines, sedatives and sleeping pills, and
antipsychotic medicines. Of the more than 1400 cases studied,
nearly 14% resulted in moderate to major