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[Definitie:] "An ergogenic aid is any substance or phenomenon that enhances performance."
(Wilmore and Costill) 
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0 8 - 0 7 - 2 0 0 5 US prescription drug abusers top 15 million- study
07 Jul 2005
The number of Americans who admit abusing prescription drugs nearly doubled to over 15 million from 1992 to 2003, with abuse among teens tripling, according to a new study released on Thursday.
The report by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University suggested that more Americans were abusing controlled prescription drugs than cocaine, hallucinogens, inhalants and heroin combined. "Our nation is in the throes of an epidemic of controlled prescription drug abuse and addiction," said former health secretary Joseph Califano, chairman and founder of the Center. [ErGs]
"New abuse of prescription opioids among teens is up an astounding 542 percent," Califano said. "The explosion in the prescription of addictive opioids, depressants and stimulants has, for many children, made the medicine cabinet a greater temptation and threat than the illegal street drug dealer, as some parents have become unwitting and passive pushers."
The report was based on surveys of doctors and pharmacists, personal interviews and focus groups and analysis of national household surveys and census data. The report said hundreds of Web sites advertised and sold controlled drugs, often without prescription and without regard to age so that teens and children could easily get them.
The substances most likely to be abused were opioids, or pain relievers like OxyContin or Vicodin; central nervous system depressants such as Valium or Xanax; stimulants including Ritalin or Adderall and anabolic-androgenic steroids like Anadrol or Equipoise.
In 2003, 2.3 million 12- to 17-year-olds -- almost one in 10 -- abused least one controlled prescription drug. Girls were more likely than boys to be abusers. Teens who abused drugs were twice as likely to use alcohol, five times as likely to use marijuana, 12 times likelier to use heroin and 21 times likelier to use cocaine than teens who did not abuse such drugs.
The report also found that in 2002, controlled drugs were implicated in almost 30 percent of drug-related emergency room deaths while the number of prescription drug emergency room mentions in hospital logs increased by nearly 80 percent. Law enforcement officials around the country have been wrestling with an epidemic of prescription drug abuse, especially of powerful pain killers like OxyContin, popularly known as "hillbilly heroin." The report found a 140 percent rise in self-reported abuse of such pain killers from 1992 to 2003, disproportionately concentrated in the south and west of the country.
Under the Counter: The Diversion and Abuse of Controlled Prescription Drugs in the U.S.
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
In March 2005, Beau Dietl & Associates (BDA) conducted a similar investigation of the availability of controlled steroids on the Internet. The analysis was designed to document the number of Internet sites that dispense steroids with a valid prescription, with an online “doctor consultation” or without any consultation or prescription.
In a week, the analysis identified 118 Web sites offering select controlled steroids:
• Thirty-six percent (43) were portal sites.
• Sixty-four percent (75) were anchor sites.
• Of the anchor sites investigated, 95 percent (71) did not require a prescription or asked simply that a questionnaire be answered to receive the drugs. Only five percent (4 sites) required that a copy of a prescription be faxed or mailed or that the patient’s doctor be contacted for the prescription.
• Only nine percent (seven) of the anchor sites indicated that the drugs would be shipped from a U.S. pharmacy. Twenty-two percent (17 sites) gave no indication of the country of origin of the drugs.
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