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Prescription Drugs Abused By Teens, Prescription Drug Addiction
Teens: Easy to Abuse Prescription Drugs, Often With Deadly Results
Prescription Drug Abuse
Prescription drugs are the most common abused drugs by teens, after marijuana, a study has recently shown.
This is not surprising, as prescription drugs are normally easily available, found in medicine cabinets at home. These prescription drugs, usually opiates such as OxyContin or Percocet, or benzodiazepines, such as Xanax or Valium, will produce a euphoric sensation if abused. They can also be deadly.
The Atlanta Recovery Center Drug Rehab in Georgia warns that teens abusing prescription drugs is more prevalent and more deadly than ever before.
“Studies have shown that teens in increasing numbers are reporting that they have abused prescription drugs found in parent’s medicine cabinets,” states Mary Rieser, Executive Director for The Atlanta Recovery Center Drug Rehab in Georgia. “Twenty percent of teens in America, or roughly 6 million teens, have abused prescription pain medication, and the same amount have abused prescription stimulants and tranquilizers.
“This means that we are facing an epidemic of drug addiction, as the current government estimate of current drug addicts is only 3.6 million. These teens, taking medications to get high, will become addicted, and as many of our students have told me, will then turn to heroin and other drugs to support their habit.
Prescription Drug Misconceptions
“Teens as young as 12 years old are trying or using prescription medications non-medically. These are easier to get than illegal drugs; you don’t need to ‘know’ someone to get the illegal drugs, it is right there in the bathroom!
“Teens have the mis-perception that these drugs are ’safe’ because they are ‘medical’.
“Drug addiction then is followed by loss of grades in school, dropping out, then turning to crime to support their drug habit.
“Families and communities are in for a rude awakening unless we do something to stop prescription drug abuse in teens.”
What can be done?
- Keep prescription drugs out of reach, or lock them up.
- Talk to your teen and warn them about drug use, not just illegal drug use, but prescription drug abuse. Tell them:
- Pharmaceuticals taken without a prescription or a under a doctor’s supervision can be just as dangerous as taking illegal drugs or alcohol.
- Painkillers are opioids, like heroin, and abusing them has the same effect.
- Many prescription pills look the same, but depending on the drug and the dosage the effects can vary greatly from mild to lethal, and even in mild dosages, can cause lethal effects is mixed with other drugs.
