These are perhaps the worst times for the economy since the Great Depression of 1929. With many stressors looming large, coping with the down turn may be causing many people to abuse prescription drugs.

A major effect of recession is that of unemployment and as per the latest statistics by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, both the number of unemployed persons (10.3 million) and the unemployment rate (6.7 percent) has continued to increase in November. After the recession started in December 2007, the number of unemployed persons increased by 2.7 million, and the unemployment rate rose by 1.7 percentage points.