Emergency room visits related to the nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, increased 21 percent from 2004 to 2005.
The report shows that the total number of drug-related emergency room visits remained stable from 2004 to 2005. However, visits involving the nonmedical use of prescription or over-the-counter drugs increased from 495,732 to 598,542. The majority of these visits involved multiple drugs.