Prescription drugs are often stigmatized as dangerous because of the prevalence of drug abuse. However, Regardless of the drug, some amount of abuse is inevitable. Furthermore, drug abuse does not retract the importance of prescription drugs in our health care system.

Alcohol is a legal substance, which is often abused; in 2012, 24.6 percent of people, 18 or older, reported that they binged drink in the past month, according to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Although alcohol is often abused, in moderation there are both health and social benefits. It is a similar case for prescription drugs.

It is impossible to completely circumvent prescription drug abuse; on the other hand, the benefits of prescription drug use is too high to ignore.

The juxtaposition of mortality rates between developing and industrial countries illuminates the importance of prescription drugs in modern health care. Mortality rates are high in countries lacking access and funds for prescription drugs.

In South Africa, the death rate was 17 deaths per 1,000 people in 2012. In the United States, the death rate was 8 deaths per 1,000 people in 2012, according to Index Mundi’s website.

Diseases like malaria and sexually transmitted diseases, such as HIV or AIDS, spread more rapidly in the absence of prescription drugs.

Viruses, like Ebola, are also more deadly in countries lacking prescription drug availability. In West Africa, the death count from the Ebola virus nears 5,000 deaths, according the World Health Organization (WHO).

Ebola virus disease (EVD) kills approximately 70 percent of those affected in Africa. In the United States, only one person has died from EVD, according to an LA Times’ article by Tina Susman and Monte Morin.

Although the Ebola virus was introduced to the United States later than Africa, it is estimated that the death count will be low in the United States because of the high quality of our health care, including the availability of prescription drugs.

The normality of prescription drug abuse is alarming, but people’s propensity to abuse drugs should not distract from the importance and necessity of prescription drugs. Some human psychologies gravitate toward abuse, but there is also a great number of individuals who use prescription drugs appropriately.