MedDRA preferred term

Intentional drug misuse: adverse event reports recording this term

20,914 reports to FDA record it, 2005–2014; 0.1% of the database.

Read first · FDA's statement on these data

Adverse event reports submitted to FDA do not undergo extensive validation or verification. Therefore, a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report. While a suspected relationship may exist, it is not medically validated and should not be the sole source of information for clinical decision making or other assumptions about the safety or efficacy of a product. Additionally, it is important to remember that adverse event reports represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product. Common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product. openFDA, FDA

FDA adds: "There is no certainty that the reported event (adverse event or medication error) was actually due to the product. FDA does not require that a causal relationship between a product and event be proven, and reports do not always contain enough detail to properly evaluate an event." The information in these reports "cannot be used to estimate the incidence of these events."

Do not rely on openFDA to make decisions regarding medical care. While we make every effort to ensure that data is accurate, you should assume all results are unvalidated.

Not medical advice. This site counts what was reported to FDA. Questions about a medicine or device belong with a pharmacist or clinician.

20,914
reports recording the term: 0.1% of all reports; 0
reports, 12 months to June 2026: 0 in the 12 months before; 55.8%
marked serious by the reporter: 57.4% across all reports; 18.3%
record death among outcomes, as reported: 9.1% across all reports

"Intentional drug misuse" is a MedDRA preferred term recorded in 20,914 adverse event reports received by FDA, 0.1% of the database, from February 2005 to March 2014. The term is chosen by whoever codes the report to match what the reporter described.

0 reports recorded it in the 12 months to June 2026, and none in the 12 months before. FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases. Of reports recording this term, 55.8% are marked serious, 18.3% include death among the outcomes and 14.8% include hospitalisation, as reported.

The drugs listed most often as suspect products in those reports are Nicorette, Nexium and Commit. That order mostly follows how many reports each drug has overall; the table also gives the term's share within each drug's own reports. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

Reports by month, five years

FDA releases FAERS data quarterly, so the newest months are incomplete and grow in later releases.

Drugs listed as suspect products in these reports

Drug	Class	Reports with this term	Share of the drug's own reports
Nicorette	Cholinergic nicotinic agonist	2,572	20.6%
Nexium	Proton pump inhibitor	2,047	2.4%
Commit	—	1,198	25.6%
Seroquel	Atypical antipsychotic	1,027	2%
Nicotine polacrilex	Cholinergic nicotinic agonist	847	10.9%
Acetaminophen	Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	664	0.8%
Alprazolam	Benzodiazepine	622	1.3%
Crestor	HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor	518	1.2%
Ethanol	—	486	5.7%
Symbicort	Corticosteroid	431	1.1%
Lyrica	—	400	0.3%
Diazepam	Benzodiazepine	383	1%
OxyContin	Opioid agonist	367	0.3%
Nicoderm Cq	Cholinergic nicotinic agonist	361	2.3%
Fentanyl	Opioid agonist	303	0.6%
Acetaminophen and Hydrocodone Bitartrate	—	291	10.6%
Prilosec	Proton pump inhibitor	282	0.7%
Cocaine	—	270	1.4%
Diphenhydramine	Histamine-1 receptor antagonist	265	1.7%
Oxycodone	Opioid agonist	257	0.7%
Lisinopril	Angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor	220	0.5%
Cymbalta	Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor	217	0.4%
Omeprazole	Proton pump inhibitor	217	0.4%
Forteo	Parathyroid hormone analog	209	0.2%
Morphine	Opioid agonist	209	0.7%

Drugs with a page on this site, ordered by the number of their reports recording this term. The last column is the term's share within that drug's own reports, against 0.1% across the whole database. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

By pharmacologic class

Class	Reports with this term	Share of class reports	Median drug in class
Cholinergic nicotinic agonist	3,977	7.3%	1.3%
Proton pump inhibitor	2,826	0.6%	0%
Opioid agonist	2,126	0.2%	0.1%
Atypical antipsychotic	1,544	0.2%	0%
Benzodiazepine	1,516	0.6%	0.2%
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug	1,093	0.2%	0%
Serotonin reuptake inhibitor	661	0.2%	0.2%
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor	638	0.3%	0%
Serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor	633	0.4%	0.2%
Corticosteroid	591	0.1%	0%

Classes ordered by count. Class shares follow the class's overall report volume as much as anything else.

Patients in these reports

Patient age

Under 20.3%66

2 to 110.5%112

12 to 171.8%382

18 to 4421.5%4,506

45 to 6431.2%6,523

65 to 749.3%1,952

75 and over5.9%1,235

Age not given29.3%6,138

Patient sex

Female54.5%11,394

Male39.1%8,174

Not given6.4%1,346

Grey bar: all 20,646,523 reports in the database. 84.8% of these reports give the United States as the country.

Questions about "Intentional drug misuse"

What does "Intentional drug misuse" mean in an adverse event report?

It is a MedDRA preferred term, the dictionary FDA uses to code what a reporter described. The report's own description is not published by openFDA and is not shown here.

How many reports record intentional drug misuse?

20,914 reports through June 2026 (0.1% of all reports), 0 of them in the latest 12 months.

Which drugs appear most often in these reports?

Nicorette (2,572), Nexium (2,047), Commit (1,198), Seroquel (1,027) and Nicotine polacrilex (847). Drugs with many reports overall lead almost every term's list. FDA states that adverse event reports "represent a small percentage of total usage numbers of a product", that "common products may have a higher number of adverse events due to the higher total number of people using the product", and that the data "by themselves are not an indicator of the safety profile of the drug or biologic."

Does a drug appearing here mean it was responsible for this reaction?

No. FDA states that "a causal relationship cannot be established between product and reactions listed in a report" and that for any given report "there is no certainty that a suspected drug caused the event."

I have this symptom. What should I do?

This site cannot assess anyone. A pharmacist or clinician can; for an emergency, call the local emergency number. Nothing on this page is medical advice.

Where this comes from. Counts are built from the openFDA Drug Adverse Event (FAERS) bulk export released 28 Sep 2026, which holds reports FDA received through 30 Jun 2026. Drug names are as reported, resolved to the brand or generic name on the FDA label where openFDA's harmonisation matched them; classes are the pharmacologic class (EPC) from the label and the National Drug Code Directory of 17 Sep 2026. Terms are pooled across spelling and capitalisation variants of one MedDRA preferred term. No report narrative, lot number, patient detail or reporter identity is published. See the methodology and sources; FDA's record is authoritative, and corrections are handled within five working days.

Drug data (FAERS) through 30 Jun 2026; device data (MAUDE) through 31 Aug 2026. Not medical advice.