More people died in 2013 of drug overdoses than in car accidents, making prescription drug abuse the third leading cause of accidental death in the U.S., according to clintonfoundation.org.

Dr. Ted Grace, director of Student Health Services, is confident in the protocol and controls placed on drug distribution at SIU. The protocol helps the school limit cases of known prescription drug abuse, Grace said.

The most commonly abused drugs are the ones prescribed for attention deficit disorder and attention deficit hyperactive disorder. Anyone who comes to the Student Health Center trying to obtain a prescription for ADD or ADHD must have completed a number of tests, Grace said.

Christopher Julian-Fralish, a staff counselor at the Health Center, said there are tests to help diagnose these disorders. These tests exist to ensure patients get needed treatment.

“Patients must bring in documentation that states they have the problem they are prescribed to, and patients must also sign a drug contract that states the patient will not abuse the prescribed drugs given to them,” Julian-Fralish said.

The center periodically drug tests patients to ensure other unprescribed drugs are not being abused. Grace said the prescription database, which tracks the dosage and strength of medications the Health Center administers, prevents patients from being overprescribed drugs.

A 2014 survey of more than 1,600 young adults released by the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids discovered abuse of prescription stimulants is becoming common among college students and other young adults.

The survey found one in five students and non-students ages 18 to 25 had abused prescription stimulants at least once because they were pressured, wanted to improve academic performance or wanted to stay awake.

Julian-Fralish, also the coordinator of alcohol and drug program within the health center, said prescription drug abuse of medications has been used to improve focus.

“People probably misuse substances like Adderall as study aides,” Julian-Fralish said.

Grace said there are procedures to deal with students misusing these drugs. If someone abuses prescription drugs, that person is assigned to Student Health Services by the judicial system or Student’s Rights and Responsibilities.

“If a student overdoses or is caught abusing prescription drugs, they will be referred to the Health Center to have one-on-one counseling sessions,” he said.

Julian-Fralish said the counselors question the patient to try to find the cause of the drug abuse.

“We look at self-taken surveys,” Julian-Fralish said. “We look at the whole person and look at the person’s issues to basically understand why the person is abusing prescription drugs.”

Two freshmen, Jacquita Adams and Taylor Davis-Flowers, say they know friends and loved ones who have suffered from prescription drug abuse.

Adams said drug abuse is particularly hard to deal mentally, knowing it can be avoided.

“My aunt passed due to overdosing on Adderall,” said Adams, who is from Bolingbrook and studying mortuary science. “It caused me and my family great amounts of pain because this could have been prevented if her doctors did not prescribe her a very large dosage of the medicine.”

Davis-Flowers, who is from Chicago and studying psychology, said she lost a close friend because of prescription drug abuse. She said the drugs changed her friend and ruined their bond.

“We tried to take our friendship to another level, but I was skeptical because she acted like a completely different person when she took her drugs, and she was not the person who I initially cared for so much,” she said.

Grace said a way to prevent prescription drug abuse is for students to closely monitor their prescriptions, and if extra medication is left over, to turn it in to the Student Health Center.