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over-the-counter drug like aspirin. Others are called prescription drugs because you can only get them with permission from a doctor. For example, if you have very bad headaches, a doctor might give you a prescription drug like Imitrex. In reality, it is all too common for people to buy or steal other people’s prescription drugs. One often-abused class of drugs is opioids . These are depressants that are used for their pain- killing effects. Morphine, codeine, and oxycodone are all opioids. Doctors prescribe them to people with serious pain. But they are frequently abused by people who don’t have real medical needs. (Heroin is also an opioid, but it is illegal and has no medical use.) Like opioids, drugs called sedatives and hypnotics have important uses in medicine. They can be very helpful to people with real psychological problems. But, also like opioids, they

Don’t share prescriptions with friends. Drugs can affect people in different ways; what is good for you could be a big danger to someone else.