Prescription for Trouble
What parents need to know about teens and
prescription drug abuse.
by Joseph A. Califano, Jr.
TWEENS & TEENS News December 2005
Most parents take necessary precautions such
as locking their liquor cabinets or banning
cigarettes from their homes so they can keep
their kids away from harmful substances. Many
parents, however, aren’t taking the
necessary steps to keep their teens away from
the dangerous substances that are lurking
inside their medicine cabinets, on the Internet
and even at their children’s schools.
Prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Ritalin,
Valium and steroids are being abused by teens
in record numbers. Parents need to take notice
of this disturbing trend.
In 2003, 2.3 million tweens and teens between
the ages of 12 and 17 (9.3 percent) admitted
to abusing controlled prescription drugs,
according to The National Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University’s
report Under the Counter: The Diversion and
Abuse of Controlled Prescription Drugs in
the U.S. Of these teenage abusers, 83.4 percent
abused opioids (such as OxyContin and Vicodin);
24.6 percent, tranquilizers (such as Valium
and Xanax); 5.6 percent, sedatives (such as
Amytal and Seconal); and 25.1 percent, stimulants
(such as Adderall and Ritalin).
Although illicit drugs get most of the attention
in the news, the rate of controlled prescription
drug abuse reported among teens was much higher
than the rates of cocaine (1.7 percent), ecstasy
(1.2 percent) or heroin (0.1 percent) use.
Prescription drug abuse was second only to
the rate of marijuana use (15.2 percent).
Compared to teens who do not abuse such drugs,
teens who abuse prescription drugs are twice
as likely to use alcohol, five times more
likely to use marijuana, 12 times more likely
to use heroin, 15 times more likely to use
ecstasy and 21 times more likely to use cocaine.
Parents must remember: availability is the
mother of abuse. In today’s society
where there is a pill for every ill, it’s
relatively easy for teens to gain access to
prescription drugs. They can score these drugs
by going into their family’s medicine
cabinet or by rifling through their parents’
personal items. They can then go to “pharming”
parties where teens bring drugs from home
and trade or share them with the purpose of
getting high. With the increase in Ritalin
prescriptions for kids, teens can easily buy
this drug from friends at school.
Prescription drugs are also just a click away
on the Internet. In 2004, CASA and Beau Dietl
& Associates (BDA) found hundreds of Web
sites selling prescription drugs. Only six
percent of the sites required a prescription,
and virtually none restricted sales to children.
A year later, BDA repeated its investigation
and found little change. In fact, opioids
were offered on considerably more sites in
2005, and 95 percent of sites that sell steroids
do so without requiring a prescription.
Teens who abuse controlled prescription drugs
may do so because these drugs are more accessible
to them than illicit drugs. Teens may think
the drugs carry less of a stigma than other
substances because people don’t have
to go to a dark alley to purchase them from
a drug dealer. Many of these drugs are already
at home and have been prescribed for someone
by a doctor. Teens also may believe prescription
drugs are safer, although nothing could be
further from the truth.
In 2002, controlled prescription drugs were
implicated in 29.9 percent of drug-related
emergency room deaths. That same year, abuse
of controlled prescription drugs involved
at least 23 percent of drug-related emergency
room admissions.
Teens and young adults abuse prescription
drugs to get high, relieve stress, relax or
to improve their academic performance. Some
teens who abuse prescription drugs may do
so in an attempt to self-medicate feelings
of stress or depression, anxiety or other
mental health problems that may go undetected
or untreated by the adults around them.
Among 12 to 17 year olds, girls were more
likely than boys to report abuse of a controlled
prescription.
Prescription drug-abusing teens are more likely
than those who do not abuse prescription drugs
to be arrested, receive drug or alcohol treatment,
meet with a school counselor for emotional
problems, feel that school work is not important
or have poor grades and distant parents.
More than half of teen prescription drug abusers
also abuse either alcohol or illicit drugs.
Teens who abuse controlled prescription drugs
in combination with alcohol or illicit drugs
often do so to accentuate a high or help bring
them down from one. Poly-substance-abusing
teens are more likely than those who abuse
only prescription drugs to experience emotional
problems, as well as problems with family,
friends, school, work and the law.
How to talk to your kids about prescription
drugs or other harmful substances.
Keep the lines of communication open throughout
your kids’ childhood so they feel comfortable
talking to you about any sensitive issues,
including drugs. Inform them that there are
serious consequences for abusing prescription
drugs, using illicit drugs, smoking cigarettes
or abusing alcohol.
Ask if they have any questions or concerns
about drugs, tobacco or alcohol, and listen
carefully to what they say. Teach them to
say “no” to drugs or alcohol by
role playing and acknowledging the difficulty
of resisting such offers. Revisit the subject
at a later time. These conversations are too
important to have just once.
Parents need to be vigilant about how much
access their teen has to prescription drugs.
The following tips will help parents prevent
their teen from abusing prescription drugs
or any other harmful substances:
• Set a good example for your kids to
follow.
• Know you child’s whereabouts,
activities and friends.
• Eat dinner together regularly.
• Set fair rules and hold your child
to those rules.
• Be caring and supportive of your child.
• Maintain open lines of communication.
• Surround your child with positive role
models.
• Incorporate religion or spirituality
into family life.
• Learn the signs and symptoms of teen
substance abuse and conditions that increase
their risk.
• If problems occur, get help promptly.
Recognize the signs and symptoms of teen
substance abuse.
The following is a list that may signal substance
abuse in teens:
• Changes in behavior
• Missing school, declining grades or
having discipline problems
• Dropping old friends and getting new
ones
• Dropping activities such as sports
• Increased secrecy
• Unusual borrowing of money
• Sudden mood changes, aggressiveness,
irritability
• Restlessness, excessive talking, rapid
speech
• Irresponsible behavior, poor judgment
• Depression
• Forgetfulness, slurred speech or difficulty
expressing thoughts
• Lack of coordination and poor balance.
Joseph A. Califano, Jr., is chairman and
president of The National Center on Addiction
and Substance Abuse at Columbia University
and former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education
and Welfare. CASA’s popular So Help
Me God (II): Substance Abuse, Religion and
Spirituality conference will be followed up
by the CASACONFERENCE Women Under the Influence:
Substance Abuse and The American Woman on
March 2, 2006. For more information, visit
www.CASAColumbia.org.
