Prescription-med abuse tapering?

The boom in prescription-drug abuse among young adults may be slowing, a new report finds.

A survey conducted by the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration found a 14 percent decrease in non-medical use of prescription drugs by teens and young adults between 2010 and 2011, according to California Watch.

The survey revealed that 2 million 18-to-25-year-olds in 2010 reported they had used prescription medication for non-medical purposes in the previous month, a figure that dropped to 1.7 million in 2011. A separate report from a group that examines workers’ compensation claims in California found that prescriptions for opioid painkillers tapered off at the end of 2011 after rising steadily since 2002.

However, the report isn’t a surefire measure of the nation’s prescription-medication abuse, as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released a report earlier this year detailing skyrocketing overdose rates.