Teens and Prescription Drugs

Teens and Prescription Drugs: An Analysis of Recent Trends on the Emerging Drug Threat, Office of National Drug Control Policy, February 2007

A number of national studies and published reports indicate that the intentional abuse of prescription drugs, such as pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives, to get high, particularly by teenagers, is a growing concern in the United States. 

Prevalence and Incidence:
  • Teens are turning away from street drugs and using prescription drugs to get high.  New users of prescription drugs have caught up to new users of marijuana.
  • Prescription drugs are the most commonly abused drug among 12-13-year-olds
Myth versus Reality
  • Teens wrongly believe that these drugs are safer than street drugs. 
  • Four out of 10 teens agree that prescription medicines are much safer to use than illegal drugs, even if they are not prescribed by a doctor.
Availability and Accessibility
  • The majority of teens get prescription drugs easily and for free, often from friends or relatives.
  • More than half of teens say prescription pain relievers are “available everywhere.”
Gender Differences
  • Among 12-17-year-olds, girls are more likely than boys to have abused prescription drugs in the past year
Types of Prescription Drugs Abused by Teens
  • Pain relievers such as OxyContin and Vicodin are the most commonly abused prescription drugs by teens.
  • Almost two out of five teens reported having friends who abused prescription pain relievers in the past year.
Dependence and Treatment
  • Adolescents are more likely than young adults to become dependent on prescription medication.
  • Prescription drug abuse dramatically increased during the past decade. In the last 10 years, the number of teens going into treatment for addiction to prescription pain relievers has increased by more than 300 percent.
Parents need to educate themselves about the dangers of prescription drugs and talk to their teens about the risks.

The full report can be found at: http://www.theantidrug.com/pdfs/TEENS_AND_PRESCRIPTION_DRUGS.pdf