News / Education
Young Adults Get Prescription Drugs From Friends and Family
One in five teens has abused prescription pain medication.
This astonishing report comes from a partnership for a drug free America study. The National survey on Drug Abuse and Health identifies four types of prescription medications that are commonly abused – pain relievers, stimulants, sedatives and tranquilizers.
Kids don’t hit the streets looking for drug dealers to feed their habit. They don’t have to. The drugs are often taken from the family medicine cabinet by a teenager, who in turn gives them to friends.
This easy access has created the shameful situation where twelve year old children are trying prescription drugs to get high. Why not? The typical perception of a medicine cabinet is a storage place for medication that is legal and safe. After all, this is where mom has always reached to get the cough medicine for little Johny when he was sick.
Without safety precautions such as locks on the medicine cabinets and parents educating their children, the outcome is predictable. Peer pressure is the final element in creating a situation that is downright scary for kids. They have easy access to stuff that could kill them.
Narconon of Georgia is active in educating the community and encourages law enforcement to sponsor “Operation Medicine Cabinet” campaigns, where citizens empty their cabinets of old prescriptions.
Parents are encouraged to talk to their teens and warn them that taking prescription medications without a doctor’s supervision can be just as dangerous and as potentially lethal as taking illicit drugs. For example, pain killers are made from the similar substances used to make heroin and can be lethal. Kids need to know this.
Narconon has educational materials available for parents who need some education themselves before talking to their kids.
In a recent interview Mary Rieser, Director of Narconon of Georgia drug treatment describes the recent increase in admissions for prescription drug abuse:
“We have seen many people come for drug rehab treatment that are addicted to prescription drugs, because they have a high potential for abuse and addiction. When a person first starts taking a drug, they may only feel sleepy or uncoordinated. But then the body becomes accustomed to the effects of the drug, and these feelings begin to diminish.”Used long term, the body develops tolerance for the drug. Then larger and larger doses are needed to achieve the same initial effects, likely leading to drug addiction.
Narconon of Georgia provides drug rehab and education for the entire southeast region.
Narconon Drug Rehab of Georgia is a non-traditional drug abuse treatment program with a 76% success rate.
