More teens are abusing prescription drugs
Although there has been a slight decline in illicit drug use according to the 2007 Substance Abuse and Mental Health services Administration study, there is a troubling new trend among teens. More are abusing prescription medications because it is readily available in their medicine cabinet.
This kind of teen drug use is second in popularity only to marijuana. Preventing this type of drug abuse is something that parents are missing the boat on, according to the study. Parents need to take control before their child need dual diagnosis treatment.
According to the 2006 SAMHA National Survey on Drug Use and Health more than 2.1 million teens abused prescription drugs. Another alarming finding is that prescription drugs are the number one choice of teens 12- 13 years old.
The most common type of drug that teens are abusing is pain relievers like Vicodin and Oxycontin.
The scary part about abusing prescription drugs are that they can have fatal reactions when a teen decides to try other drugs or drink. According to the study, nearly half of teens who abused prescription pain killers also report using two or more other drugs,most commonly alcohol or marijuana. Addiction treatment centers may be needed to stop.
More alarming is that children and teens do not think that prescription drugs carry the same amount of danger because they are easily accessible to them in their own home, or from a friend. The study states the 32 percent of teens do not think that prescription drugs, like painkillers are safer because they have fewer side effects than street drugs.
Because prescription drugs are so easy for children and teens to obtain, they are more likely to try them. More than half of the teens in the study reported that they abuse prescription drugs and painkillers because they are not illegal. Also, they feel they are less shameful and that parents don’t care as much if they get caught using them.
If you have prescription painkillers in your home, make sure you know how many are in the bottle and never let your child or teen take them without a prescription of their own. The only cure for this type of drug abuse is parental supervision.
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