a Schedule II drug, recognizing its high potential for non-medical use and addiction. Hydrocodone can be prescribed under a different brand name. These brand names include Norco, Lortab, and Vicodin. Hydrocodone can also exist in other formulations where it is combined with another non-opioid pain reliever such as acetaminophen, or even a cough suppressant. When opioids like hydrocodone are taken as prescribed, for the indication prescribed, and for a short period of time, then the risk of non-medical use and addiction is small. Problems have surfaced over the last decade however, due to its wide overuse and misuse in the setting of chronic pain. The elderly are at an increased risk for opioid related overdose because several different classes of medications can interact with opioids and older patients are often taking multiple prescribed medications at a single time. One class of drug that is commonly prescribed in this patient population is benzodiazepines. Benzodiazepines by themselves put older people at risk for falls and fractures due to associated side effects related to dizziness and sedation. Opioids by themselves put older people at risk of respiratory depression and impaired ability to operate vehicles and other machinery. Combining these two drugs together not only increases a person's risk of the aforementioned adverse effects, but it can increase a person's risk of overdose and death. Statistics show that hydrocodone ranks in at number 4 on the list of the most common drugs used recreationally in the United States and that more than 40% of drug-related emergencies occur due to opioid use disorder. Twenty percent of people who use opioids recreationally, another statistic reports, were prescribed the medication they used. Hydrocodone was declared the most widely prescribed opioid between 2007 and 2016, and in 2015 the International Narcotics Control Board reported that greater than 98% of the hydrocodone consumed in the entire world was consumed by Americans. Codeine Codeine is a prescription opiate used to treat mild to moderate pain. It is available as a tablet and cough syrup. Approximately 33million people use codeine each year. A 2013 study on the concoction of codeine with alcohol or soda, also known as "purple drank," discovered that codeine is most widely used in a recreational way by men, Native Americans and Hispanics, urban students, and LGBT persons. The study also noted that all people who used "purple drank" reported using alcohol within the past month, and roughly