Posted on 04/21/2005 7:31:16 AM PDT by 12 Gauge Mossberg
NEW YORK - The nation's teenagers are increasingly trying prescription drugs such as Vicodin and OxyContin to get high, with the pill-popping members of "Generation Rx" often raiding their parents' medicine cabinets, according to the latest national study by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.
The 17th annual study on teen drug abuse, released Thursday morning, found that about one in five teenagers has abused a prescription painkiller — more than have experimented with either Ecstasy, cocaine, crack or LSD. One in 11 teens had abused over-the-counter products such as cough medicine, the study reported.
"For the first time, our national study finds that today's teens are more likely to have abused a prescription painkiller to get high than they are to have experimented with a variety of illegal drugs," said partnership Chairman Roy Bostock. "In other words, Generation Rx has arrived."
According to the survey, the most popular prescription drug abused by teens was Vicodin, with 18 percent — or about 4.3 million youths — reporting they had used it to get high. OxyContin and drugs for attention-deficit disorder such as Ritalin/Adderall followed with one in 10 teens reporting they had tried them.
Fewer than half the teens — 48 percent — said they saw "great risk" in experimenting with prescription medicines. "Ease of access" was cited as a major factor in trying the medications, with medicine cabinets at home or at friends' homes a likely source, the survey found.
It was only the second year that the survey had studied abuse of legal drugs. For the first time, the survey included a question about the use of over-the-counter products to get high. Nine percent, or about 2.2 million teens, had experimented with cough syrup and other such products, the survey reported.
The number of teens reporting marijuana use declined to 37 percent last year, compared with 42 percent a half-dozen years earlier. Over the same amount of time, ecstasy use declined from 12 percent to 9 percent, while methamphetamine trial dropped from 12 percent to 8 percent.
The 2004 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study surveyed more than 7,300 teens, the largest ongoing analysis of teen drug-related attitudes toward drugs in the country. Its margin of error is plus or minus 1.5 percent.
The nonprofit Partnership for a Drug-Free America, launched in 1987, is a coalition of communications professionals aimed at reducing the demand for illegal drugs.
How many parents are stealing their kids ritalin?
I'm a teen and I see this everyday...if kids took their ADD meds than it would be less of a problem, but instead they are selling it...also when prescribed painkillers they usually sell those as well
I would expect 1 in 5 would be about the rate adults abuse them as well.
I used vicodin recently due to a herniated disc.
I found it worked better than the codeine. The codeine made me too drowsy, and it didn't penetrate the pain as effectively. Vicodin worked much better. Interestingly, the label doesn't say don't drink alcohol. It merely says alcohol may increase the unwanted side effect of drowsiness. I found that taking my vicodin with a glass of wine or sangria improved the effectiveness. The first few days after my back surgery, I took a vico in the morning with a mo-mo( champagne and OJ) and in the evening with wine. After a few days, I stopped the morning booze. After a week or so, the vicodin use was only occasional. I've still got 6 codeines leftover from a february 2nd 30 ct, and 17 vicodins from a march 20 60 ct. the vicodin does give me a bit of a headache. never had oxycontin.
I was prescribed Vicodin when I had a toothache. I decided to opt for O-T-C Advil instead.
Another drug of choice is Ritalin. Kids that aren't on it will borrow from kids that are.
Don't ask me why.
So was I, after a root canal. I was given "Vico-profen", which is the ibuprofen variety instead of the tylenol vareity of the drug. My mom was prescrbied both Vicodin and Oxycontin after her knee surgery.
But 20% of kids are using Rx drugs to get high? Is it me, or does that seem like a really huge number of kids using these drugs? After yesterday's CDC announcement that it massaged it's obesity data and the continued manipulation of GW data, I am quite skeptical. Anyone have a link to the full survey results?
I used darvocet then vicodin in the month before my back surgery nearly four years ago, in the month before that I went from being able to use ibuprofen to needing Voltaren to needing darvocet. Even the darvocet was barely strong enough. I could feel it start to wear off after four hours, but my doctor's instructions said to take it no more frequently than every six hours. When I described my symptoms to my surgeon, he prescribed vicodin with the option to take them four hours apart. I found I was able to get by with just four of them a day taken six hours apart for the ten days between my first meeting with my surgeon and my surgery. I only needed five the day after surgery, and was able to stop them completely just a week after surgery.
I took Voltaren also. The first doctor I saw--out of the yellow pages--gave me vicodin and voltaren. Both worked. I took voltaren twice a day, but the unwanted effects on my bowels were really unpleasant. I skipped the steroid injections, having failed to find even a single testimonial to support them. Once I got the MRI and had it looked at, it didn't take me long--a day or two--to opt for surgery. I had the surgery on March 21. I've been home on disability since then. Don't tell anyone, but I went fishin' yesterday! Can't throw the canoe up on the roof by myself anymore, but I still caught my first bass of the year from the shore. A nice two pounder. But I digress. I hope you are feeling well. I am doing a lot better. Scared of re-injury. Startled by the debilitating nature of sciatica.
I have read of two reasons:
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