The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) is conducting a large-scale, nationwide study on those who have an addiction to prescription pain medication. According to the NIDA, six million Americans in 2005 said that they used prescription drugs in a nonmedical manner within the past month.

The nonmedical use of prescription pain medication has for the first time exceeded marijuana use in the United States. The study will test the effectiveness of Suboxone (buprenorphine / naloxone) in treating those with a prescription opiate addiction, particularly OxyContin.

The study will test both those who were using prescription painkillers for legitimate reasons and then became hooked and those, who from the outset, have used prescribed pain medication for illicit purposes.