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The misuse of prescription drug opioids has led to an opioid epidemic in the US. The National Institutes of Health has identified four main ways in which these drugs are misused: taking prescriptions intended for others, taking higher dosages than prescribed, using the drugs in forms other than advised, and using the drugs solely for their intoxicating effects. Misuse can result in overdose, which can be life-threatening. Overdosing on opioids slows down breathing and can cause hypoxia, leading to short and long-term psychological and neurological effects, including coma, brain damage, and death. Prescription drug opioids are often misused and abused, which is what has created this opioid epidemic in the United States. The National Institutes of Health has described this misuse in four main ways. Taking prescriptions that are prescribed to others, taking more than what you're supposed to, so taking a higher dosage, which also comes from creating a tolerance, taking the drugs in forms other than prescribed or advised to, which can include snorting or injecting the drug, and lastly, taking the medicine solely for its effect, which basically means using the drug as a means of getting high rather than to treat chronic pain or injury. The misuse of these drugs can lead to overdose, which can be life-threatening and or fatal. When a person takes too many opioids, it slows your breathing, which leads to hypoxia, which is when too little oxygen reaches the brain. When this happens, a person is risking short and long-term psychological and neurological effects, for example, coma, brain damage, and death.