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Teens and Drug AddictionThe good news about teens and drug addiction is today's youth aren't abusing illicit drugs like ecstasy, crack, LSD and cocaine like they used to. The bad news is they are still getting high; only now it's with prescription medicines.Generation RxAmerica's youth of today are turning to prescription medications for their highs, and one estimate has the number of young people abusing prescriptions at more than 32 million. According to Joshua Lyon, author of the book, Pill Head: The Secret Life of a Painkiller Addict , many teens find the thought of using illicit drugs like marijuana and cocaine too frightening. Not so with prescription medications. "…with pills, you know that somewhere down the line, it came from a doctor," Lyon writes. "A safe, kindly doctor who knew just what you needed and would never distribute something that could potentially hurt you."¹
A Fashionable HighAnother link between teens and drug addiction is the media and how it makes prescription drugs look glamorous. Dr. House, on the popular show House, pops Vicodin into his mouth like candy while still being regarded as a brilliant and successful physician who can flaunt authority.One of the running jokes on the comedy Will & Grace was a wealthy friend who kept hundreds of bottles of pills around and was constantly swallowing a pain pill. Shows like these tell teens there's nothing wrong with taking medications for fun or to help deal with stress. Easy AccessAnother problem is the increasing prevalence and power of the internet. For good and bad, you can find virtually anything on the internet.Information that could only be found in back alleyways just a few years ago, can be accessed as simply as typing a few keywords into a search engine. Thanks to the internet, teens and drug addiction go hand and hand. You can now anonymously search for information you would have been uncomfortable asking your local librarian, such as how to use prescription meds to get high. Plus for many, finding a way to order prescription medications like Vicodin is as simple as answering an email. Pharmaceutical sales companies are constantly inboxes with advertisements. Plus, with people living longer with diseases like cancer, physicians are prescribing pain medications more than ever, which means more prescription drugs are available to be stolen or sold illegally. More Girls AbusingA new trend among teens and drug addiction is more girls than boys are using prescription medications to get high. Women tend to be more open with doctors about their ailments and are likely to get more prescriptions for pain. They then share these medications with their daughters who are suffering with pain from menstrual cramps or headaches.¹Joshua Lyon, Pill Head, (New York: Hyperion, 2009), 6 |
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We'll let you know about the latest happenings in treatments for drug addiction, effects of different drugs and where you can go to get help. In the future we'll also have real life drug addiction stories and how others are getting off drugs. This ezine is your source for what's going on with surviving drug addiction.