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Over-the-Counter Medicines

Over-the-counter (OTC) medicines are those that can be sold directly to people without a prescription. OTC medicines treat a variety of illnesses and their symptoms including pain, coughs and colds, diarrhea, constipation, acne, and others. Some OTC medicines have active ingredients with the potential for misuse at higher-than-recommended dosages. Read the DrugFacts

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Monitoring the Future Study: Trends in Prevalence of Cough Medicine (non-prescription) for 8th Graders, 10th Graders, and 12th Graders; 2018 (in percent)*
Drug	Time Period	8th Graders	10th Graders	12th Graders
Cough Medicine (non-prescription)	Past Year	2.80	3.30	3.40

Related Publications

Related Infographics

Monitoring the Future 2017 Survey Results (December 2017)

This infographic of the NIH’s 2017 Monitoring the Future survey highlights drug use trends among the Nation’s youth for marijuana, alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes (e-vaporizers), and prescription opioids.

Monitoring the Future 2016 Survey Results (December 2016)

This infographic of the NIH’s 2016 Monitoring the Future survey highlights drug use trends among the Nation’s youth for marijuana, alcohol, cigarettes, e-cigarettes, and prescription opioids.

Monitoring the Future 2015 Survey Results (December 2015)

NIH’s 2015 Monitoring the Future survey shows long term decline in illicit drug use, prescription opioid abuse, cigarette and alcohol use among the nation’s youth.

Related Resources

Harmful Interactions - National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA)

Other Resources

MEDLINEplus Health Information on Drug Abuse - National Library of Medicine, NIH
www.abovetheinfluence.com - Office of National Drug Control Policy
healthfinder.gov - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Past information on many drugs of abuse is available on our Archives site.

Clinical Trials

Clinical trials are research studies in human volunteers conducted to answer specific health questions. Learn about the NIH-sponsored clinical trials available to you.

NIDA Clinical Trial Locator - answer a few simple questions and get contact information for Clinical Trials near you.

Other Clinical Trials information sources:

NIH Clinical Trials and You - NIH site that helps explain about clinical trials and why people participate.
NIDA Trials at ClinicalTrials.gov - a resource of federally and privately supported clinical trials.
Clinical Research Studies from the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network (CTN) - a NIDA coordinated network of research institutions conducting human trials on drug abuse solutions.
Research Studies at NIDA Intramural Research Program - located in Baltimore, Maryland.

Emerging Trends & Alerts

Get more information on Emerging Trends and Alerts, we will update this page with the latest research findings as they develop.

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NIDA. (). Over-the-Counter Medicines. Retrieved from https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/over-counter-medicines

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Prescription Drug Abuse

Learn what you can do to
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medicineabuseproject.org

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Over-the-Counter Medicines