Posted on June 12, 2009

It is no secret that drug abuse is a major issue in today’s society. The choices that adults make can sometimes be harmful to themselves and to those around them, but when drug abuse is evident in the younger population, just about everyone sits up and takes notice. We hear all the time about groups trying to persuade kids from not smoking marijuana or trying ecstasy, and there are even groups out there dedicated to helping kids “just say no” to tobacco and alcohol, but there are almost no groups watching the kinds of prescription medications our young people take.

According to a 2005 study, 1 in every 20 high school seniors admit to taking Oxycontin at one time or another. The same study shows that Oxycontin use and abuse is up 40 percent from 2002 and 2005, and a recent glance at the headlines shows a shocking number of crimes, some violent, committed by teens looking to feed their Oxycontin addiction or at the very least to help them get access to more pills so they can sell them. How big of a problem is Oxycontin and prescription drug abuse in today’s high schools? Let’s take a look.

When most of us think of violent drug crime, we think of the streets of New York City or Los Angeles, but prescription drug crime can hit small town America, as well. A recent spate of car break-ins in rural Wisconsin has been traced to two teenagers, Nicholas A. Georgeson and Adam J. Bradley. As it turns out, the pair committed over 200 burglaries in search of cash and prescription medication. Georgeson admits that the sole purpose for the robberies was to feed his Oxycontin addiction. It would be nice to think that a case like this is isolated to a few bad apples, but sadly, it appears not to be.

If you have a teenage son or daughter, you may want to ask them about Pharma Parties. These new drug-crazed parties are sprouting up all over the country and feature loud music, dancing, alcohol, and bowls filled with prescription drugs that kids and teens toss back like breath mints to get high. A recent article in the Greensboro (North Carolina) News-Record documents several of these parties throughout the North Carolina area. The article sites a 2006 Partnership For A Drug Free America study that showed 1 in 5 teenagers in the United States has abused prescription drugs, with Oxycontin a favorite, at one time or another. It is unclear how many teens have been hospitalized or even died from attending such parties, but the numbers are sure to be high.

What is even scarier is how many teens now in rehab claim that Oxycontin was their gateway drug of choice. Much has been made in recent years by marijuana activists that say that pot isn’t a gateway drug at all; however, Oxycontin is chemically similar to other drugs like heroin and the high is so intense from abusing Oxycontin that more and more people, including younger and younger teens, say that even by-the-book Oxycontin use spurred them to seek stronger highs from illegal, illicit drugs.

An article in the Janesville Gazette should serve as “must reading” to parents who are looking to pacify their teens with dangerous narcotics like Oxycontin. It outlines just how easy it is for normal kids to get hooked on the high given by Oxycontin, and then how easy it is for them to find and begin using “harder” street drugs. You don’t have to live in the middle of a big city to develop a real drug addiction, as these rural Wisconsin teens found out.

What can be done to stem the tide of prescription drug abuse among today’s teenage population? It really starts at home with what parents allow their kids to have. Kids will be kids and accidents, even severe ones, are unavoidable, but you can control what the doctor prescribes your child. Demand that no narcotics of any kind ever be prescribed to your child as long as they are under the age of 18. Remember, you have the final say as their legal guardian and there are ALWAYS alternatives to narcotic painkillers.