There has been a lot of news in recent years about prescription drug abuse, highlighted by the deaths of many celebrities. However, prescription drug abuse isn’t just a “celebrity problem” and at NIDA we encourage all families to take a close look at what is happening with their own teens, with an eye on what is in their own medicine cabinets.
Prescription drug abuse is a significant part of the teen drug problem. According to the recent Monitoring the Future survey, NIDA found that 14.8 percent of high-school seniors used a prescription drug not prescribed for them or for non medical reasons in the past year. Many of these are just good kids making questionable choices at a high risk time in their lives. The most commonly abused prescription drugs by teens are the stimulant Adderall and the pain reliever Vicodin.
Painkillers
We have heard quite a bit about teens abusing prescription painkillers like Vicodin or Oxycontin to get “high.” But there are other reasons teens abuse these drugs. For example, young women might be “borrowing” painkillers to combat menstrual cramps, or young athletes might seek them out to help with sports injuries.
Stimulants
Fueled by academic pressure, teens are also abusing stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin—a.k.a. “study drugs”—with the intent to improve their concentration, energy, and focus. A dangerous misconception is that these drugs are safer to abuse than illicit drugs because they are prescribed by doctors with students for ADHD. Make no mistake about it, there are plenty of stimulants passed around in the halls of American high schools, and parents should remind their teens that this is not safe unless prescribed for a real medical condition.
Drugs and the Brain
Taken as intended, prescription drugs safely treat specific mental or physical symptoms. But when taken in unmanaged doses, by someone without a prescription for whatever reason, they may affect the brain in ways very similar to illicit drugs. It is important to note, for example, that Ritalin increases alertness, attention, and energy the same way cocaine does—by boosting the amount of the neurotransmitter dopamine released in the brain. Similarly, opioid pain relievers like OxyContin attach to the same cell receptors targeted by illegal opioids like heroin. When abused, these drugs can lead to a pleasurable increase in the amount of dopamine in the brain’s reward pathway. Repeatedly seeking to experience that feeling can lead to addiction. Did you know that every year in this country, more people die from unintentional painkiller overdose than from heroin and cocaine combined?
Only health professionals can evaluate if certain drugs are safe for your teen, and then it is up to parents to make sure their teens take only the prescribed dose.
The PEERx Campaign
In response to this serious public health issue, NIDA has developed PEERx, an online educational initiative to discourage abuse of prescription drugs among teens. From printable fact sheets to interactive videos, PEERx provides educators, counselors, student leaders, and teens with science-based information—in an engaging format—about the impact of prescription drug abuse. High school students contributed to and starred in the videos, highlighting everyday pressures that are so important to teens. Teens watching the videos are asked to make decisions throughout the storyline, resulting in different endings, reinforcing that they can make positive choices on their own.
How To Get Involved
- Use NEA HIN’s Rx for Understanding curriculum and NIDA’s PEERx resources to educate students in your classroom about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.
- Involve students in hosting a school-wide prescription drug abuse awareness event. Find ideas in the PEERx Activity Guide. Consider holding an event during NIDA’s National Drug Facts Week.
- Hold a session with other teachers in your school to raise awareness about prescription drug abuse and share NEA and PEERx resources. Encourage teachers to discuss this topic in their classrooms, use a PEERx activity, or write a guest post for NIDA’s Sara Bellum Blog.
- Encourage parents to put all prescription drugs in a safe place, out of reach for teens, and don’t assume your teen is too young or well-behaved to experiment with drugs they incorrectly view as safe. Consider locking your medicine cabinet and throw away unused medicine. This Food and Drug Administration fact sheet tells you how to safely dispose of unused medicines.
- Check the Drug Enforcement Administration Web site to see if your neighborhood has a medicine disposal facility during the next upcoming National Take-Back Day, scheduled for April 27, 2013. Simply put, get the drugs out of your house if you no longer need them.
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