Prescription drug abuse is a tricky crime on a number of different levels. The responsibility for the criminal action is often unclear, and split between many parties. So when it comes to the abuse of prescription drugs, who is the appropriate party to blame, and thereby push for legal consequences?

It can start off so accidentally, and often because of unnecessary prescriptions. The question that enters here is whether the doctor who gave this original prescription should be found culpable for part of the crime. After all, if the doctor was using their best judgment and thought the drug would be best, doesn’t that mean they should be dismissed from responsibility? Well, perhaps not.

Doctors are licensed professionals with years of education. They know the negative impact and the risks of prescription drug abuse more than anyone, so they should often be more hesitant.

Nonetheless, this is just the starting point. Patients who are addicted to drugs will often go to any lengths to get them, often lying to physicians to obtain the necessary signed slip. Certainly doctors shouldn’t be held responsible when they are being lied to; they must assume honesty in all patients, or else risk leaving suffering patients with unresolved ailments. The patient can get the medications for cheap with the help of a free prescription discount card or a good insurance policy, so the opportunity is very present. But should a patient who has negligently been given an unnecessary prescription be help responsible for their actions after addiction?

Even if it’s a mitigating factor, responsibility still belongs to the people taking the actions. Truly, it’s difficult to decide who to blame in these convoluted scenarios, so what alternative are we left with? The best solutions don’t seem to be punishment at all. Rather, making information more readily accessible and requiring certain risks to be disclosed prior to giving prescriptions.