Lock up your prescription drugs

For the average teenager today, it is much easier to lay hands on prescription drugs than to buy a can of beer, according to a survey conducted by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA).

The Center asked 1,002 teenagers (aged 12 to 17) the question: "Which is easiest for someone your age to buy: cigarettes, beer, marijuana, or prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin or Ritalin, without a prescription?" The responses came as a surprise.

* 19 percent said it was much easier for them to buy prescription drugs than the other items. This was a huge jump (almost 1.5 times) from only 13 percent one year ago.

* 23 percent of all teens said they found marijuana the easiest item to buy.

* 43 percent of teens aged 17 said they could buy marijuana within one hour.

Since this annual survey on attitudes about drug abuse was started 13 years ago, this is the first time teens are saying it is easier for them to get prescription drugs not prescribed to them than beer.

The prescription drugs mentioned in the survey are potent painkillers and can make teenagers feel high.

Even more disturbing, the survey findings showed that slightly over a third (34 percent) of teen users of prescription drugs got their supply from a very convenient source — the medicine cabinet at home. Worse, the parents did not even know it. The chairman of CASA said these parents had become ‘passive pushers.’

A significant number of the 312 parents included in the survey also had no knowledge of where their children go to in the evening. About 50 percent of the teens in the survey said they went out on school nights. In contrast, only 14 percent of parents knew their children were out; most of them assumed their children were at home.

There was a strong correlation between teens being out late during the week and the chances of being with people who were smoking and drinking. Among all teens still out after 10 p.m., half of them were in the company of people smoking and using drugs. Similar behavior was reported by 29 percent of teens who went back home before 10 p.m.

Ironically, these findings come at this time when teen drug abuse is on a decline. Teenagers can now use strong prescription drugs obtained illegally and enjoy similar effects from drugs like marijuana.

It is possible, according to researchers, that teens believe the prescription drugs are safer to use than drugs of abuse and alcohol.

But this simply is not true: their brains are still developing, and this will suffer greatly from exposure to large amounts of potent drugs developed for adults.

In addition, there amount they need to take to get a high is not too far removed from the amount that leads to an overdose.

Safety Tip:

* Have more family dinners. When have meals together at least five times a week, only 10 percent of teens used marijuana. Usage rose to 23 percent of teens when they ate together less than three times a week.

* Lock up your prescription drugs.