Prescription Drug Abuse on the Rise in Central New York

Use of illegal prescription drugs is on the rise among teens in central New York State, according to a story published this week by the Central New York News. State Trooper Jack Keller, who was interviewed for the story, reports that students as young as 12 and 13 are resorting to prescription drugs as an easy and cheap way to get high.

These drugs are cheap because many teens obtain them from their parents’ or relatives’ medicine cabinets. Teens have also been known to knock on a stranger’s door and ask to use the bathroom, and then steal prescriptions and other drugs. Keller also reports a number of cases in which teens tell realtors at open houses that their parents are on their way to look at the house, and ask if they can use the bathroom, just to steal drugs.

According to Keller, Oxycontin (a chemical relative of heroin) and Vicodin, both painkillers, are the most frequently abused drugs in local schools. Keller emphasizes that these are average kids who probably wouldn’t try cocaine or heroin because they think those drugs are too dangerous. What they don’t realize is that prescription drugs can be just as potent and dangerous.

Beth Hughes, a social worker at Liverpool High School's ninth-grade annex, reports a trend of “pill parties” being held in local homes. Teens bring their own supplies of pills and dump the pills into a common container. The teens then grab the pills like jelly beans and ingest them in random combinations and dosages. The possible consequences of this behavior are frightening and severe.

A recent national survey by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America confirms this trend. The 2008 survey found that:

• One in five teens has abused a prescription pain medication.
• One in five report abusing prescription stimulants and tranquilizers.
• One in 10 has abused cough medication.

(Source: Syracuse.com)

Labels: prescription-drug-abuse, teen-drug-abuse

posted by jgarcia @ 9:06 AM