A prescription drug (also prescription medication or prescription medicine) is a pharmaceutical drug that legally requires a medical prescription to be dispensed. In contrast, over-the-counter drugs can be obtained without a prescription. The reason for this difference in substance control is the potential scope of misuse. Different jurisdictions have different definitions of what constitutes a prescription drug. “Rx” is often used as a short form for prescription drug in North America. It is an abbreviation for the Latin “recipe”, an imperative form of “recipere”, meaning “take”. Prescription drugs are often dispensed together with a monograph (in Europe, a Patient Information Leaflet or PIL) that gives detailed information about the drug.