press_release_conclusion: International collaborations across the EU are needed to monitor prescription drug abuse, identify its scope and develop targeted interventions, according to the first comparative study of prescription drug abuse in the European Union. The study, published in the open access journal BMC Psychiatry investigated nonmedical prescription drug use in five European countries - Denmark, Germany, Spain, Sweden and the UK.
abstract_conclusion: Nonmedical prescription drug use was reported across the five EU countries we studied, with opioids and sedatives being the most prevalent classes of prescription psychotherapeutics.