Onset of illegal use of mind-altering or potentially addictive prescription drugs among pharmacists.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the temporal and descriptive aspects of pharmacists' decision-making processes regarding illegal use of mind-altering or potentially addictive prescription drugs (PAPDs) and to measure the effects of social factors associated with being and becoming a pharmacist on pharmacists' decisions to use PAPDs illegally.


METHODS
One-time, written, mailed survey.


METHODS
United States.


METHODS
Random sample of licensed practicing pharmacists who were members of the American Pharmaceutical Association in fall 1996.


METHODS
Not applicable.


METHODS
Responses to items on the survey.


RESULTS
Nearly 40% of respondents indicated that they had used a form of PAPD without first obtaining a physician's authorizing prescription. A significant portion of the sample showed signs of repeated use-20% of the respondents reported 5 or more lifetime PAPD-use episodes, and 6% reported more than 10 such episodes. Almost 6% of the respondents identified themselves as being drug abusers at some point during their pharmacy careers. Moreover, a full 88% of these pharmacists began such illegal PAPD use after entering college, 51% used more than one type or class of PAPD, and 69% directly violated their professional code of ethics and state and/or federal laws by either stealing PAPDs from their place of employment (61%) or forging prescriptions (8%) to obtain them.


CONCLUSIONS
A considerable percentage (40%) of the pharmacists surveyed had, on at least one occasion, used some form of PAPD without first obtaining a physician's authorizing prescription, and about one-fifth of respondents reported repeated use. The onset of such illegal PAPD use by pharmacists almost always occurred after the individuals had entered college. Interpersonal factors, such as positive reinforcement of self-medication practices from peers and increased levels of one's own approval for self-medication, appear to increase the likelihood that a pharmacist will engage in such illegal PAPD use.
Dabney
D A
DA
(Department of Criminal Justice, Georgia State University, Atlanta 30302-4018, USA. ddabney@gsu.edu
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D003657:Decision Making; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010595:Pharmacists / Q000523:psychology*; D015995:Prevalence; D012651:Self Medication; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*