NEW YORK — The University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future study, which tracked more than 46,000 eighth-, 10th- and 12th-graders, underscores that teens’ intentional abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medicines continues to be a cause for concern, with an alarming number of young people abusing medicines they obtain from friends and relatives.
Thirty-three percent of 12th-graders who reported abusing prescription narcotics in the past year were given the medication by a friend or relative, 21 percent bought the medication from a friend or relative, 19 percent abused their own medication prescribed to them by a physician, 12 percent took the narcotic from a friend or relative and 8 percent bought from a dealer or stranger.
Among the same cohort of teens, the study also found that prescription and over-the-counter medicines account for 8 out of 13 of the most frequently abused drugs.
“The Monitoring the Future study confirms that teen abuse of prescription and over-the-counter medications continues to be a pervasive problem that unfortunately has become a far too normal part of many teens’ lives,” said Steve Pasierb, president of Partnership for a Drug-Free America. “Teens are not only getting these medications from their own homes, but even more troubling, they are also getting them from friends and relatives.
“It is important for parents to educate themselves about the medications kids are abusing and communicate with their kids to dispel the notion that medicines can be safely abused,” Pasierb said. “It is also crucial that parents safeguard medications at home, limit access, keep track of quantities and make certain that friends and relatives do the same.”
For information on how to prevent abuse of medicines please visit drugfree.org/NotInMyHouse or download the brochure “Getting High on Prescription and Over-The-Counter Drugs is Dangerous."
