Teenagers and prescription drug overdose
14 Comment By Amrita Sheokand | July 07, 2009
Recently many of the untimely celebrity deaths have ended up being investigated for prescription drug overdoses; Anna Nicole Smith, Heath Ledger and now Michael Jackson.
Unfortunately, this problem has nothing to do with a showbiz status. It is affecting a younger demographic at an alarming rate.
Eleven percent of teenagers between the ages of 12 and 14 have reported lifetime non-medical use of pain relievers and four percent of teens reported lifetime non-medical use of stimulants, according to the Partnership for a Drug Free America.
The National Survey on Drug Use and Health says that 4 types of prescription medications that are commonly abused — pain relievers, stimulants, sedatives and tranquilizers, reports the non-profit organization that helps educate parents to keep their children from abusing drugs.
“Partnership research shows that 1 in 5 teens has abused a prescription painkiller to get high. In fact, today’s teenagers are more likely to have abused prescription medications than illicit drugs like Ecstasy, cocaine, crack, meth and heroin,” reads a press release that suggests parents use Jackson’s death as an opportunity to talk to children about prescription overdose."
The Partnership suggests a website for tips on how parents can broach the topic with their children effectively.
The problem has become so acute that accidental overdose of prescription drugs is now the second leading cause of death in the U.S.
The internet has exacerbated the problem by making it easier for people in the U.S. to order various drugs from some obscure city in India. So even if pharmacies in the U.S. try to monitor anomalies in prescriptions across chains like RiteAid and CVS it is not foolproof since these are not the only avenues of drug distribution.
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Comments
lmfao! to
What kind of world or society are we living in, where we, as parents, HAVE TO LOCK UP OUR MEDS! I should think it all starts with training our kids, so that we trust them to the point where they wouldn't even THINK of stealing their parent's medications. I firmly believe that many kids today do not have parental oversight and control, where actions bring about consequences, and not just grounding their children for a week or so. No TV, no computer time, no cellphone time, and where needed, physical punishment. Yes, I mean spanking, when necessary. Our kids grew up very well without drugs, alcohol, or smoking, and they both have turned out great! Now we get kids working at fast-food restaurants who ask us, "Waddya guys want?" when we go to order things. Whatever happened to courtesy and respect?
Posted by Everett K Thompson on July 22, 2009
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I bet you your kids did try drugs.. you just had no idea. I mean, you may think your kids are goodie to shoes but they aren't. You're an idiot. Every parent THINKS their kids aren't doing any type of drug but in reality almost all do. Trust me, I'd know. My parents have NO IDEA I do any drugs. They would never ever think I do...
What kind of world or society are we living in, where we, as parents, HAVE TO LOCK UP OUR MEDS! I should think it all starts with training our kids, so that we trust them to the point where they wouldn't even THINK of stealing their parent's medications. I firmly believe that many kids today do not have parental oversight and control, where actions bring about consequences, and not just grounding their children for a week or so. No TV, no computer time, no cellphone time, and where needed, physical punishment. Yes, I mean spanking, when necessary. Our kids grew up very well without drugs, alcohol, or smoking, and they both have turned out great! Now we get kids working at fast-food restaurants who ask us, "Waddya guys want?" when we go to order things. Whatever happened to courtesy and respect?
Posted by Everett K Thompson on July 22, 2009xanax and perodan are not uppers. both are closer to downers in their effects...i would know
Posted by joe on July 13, 2009"so you can get lots of really good uppers like xanax and perkadan."
that's why kids are dying of overdoses. they don't know anything about what they are taking. xanax and percodan are uppers. both are CNS depressants. when you learn more about the drugs you are taking, their effects on your brain and body, and are careful about doses and mixing with other drugs, prescription drug use can be much safer than buying coke or heroin off the street because the prescription drugs are guaranteed to be pure.
Posted by allie on July 10, 2009Painkillers are awesome, I would recommend them to anyone looking to pass the time or survive through an 8 hour tattoo sesion.
Posted by Chris on July 10, 2009I am in college, and after dealing with an incompetent administration, ill-prepared instructors who just don't give a damn, classmates who are either apathetically brain-dead or too caught up in their own (horribly cliche) social life to be interesting, and a complete loss of motivation to strive for any sort of degree because of these circumstances, I sometimes wonder why we don't have MORE people on painkillers. I don't know how anybody can survive the emotional black hole of the people here without being on some sort of substance.
Posted by Under Grad on July 10, 2009It hasn't been confirmed that Michael died of anything even remotely related to prescription drugs (or illicit ones). No one related to his case has said anything further than he was taking "some prescription medications" (the cornoner said that), and anything else you have heard has been pure fabrication or speculation for the sake of ratings.
P.S. When you quote an anti drug organization for statistics on how big a drug problem we have, it tends to be less than convincing. Anti drug organizations gave us "Reefer Madness", and have worked very hard to lose all credibility.
Posted by Brad Patterson on July 10, 2009Accidental overdoes of prescription drugs is not the second leading cause of in America.
Posted by Carl on July 09, 2009I'm in college, and I see this all the time. I'm somewhat guilty of it myself, having used adderall several times. Kids should just stick with pot: it's non addictive, and you cannot OD...
Posted by sven on July 09, 2009Whatever.
Posted by Jo on July 09, 2009The solution is purdetox.com
Posted by Myles on July 09, 2009When I was younger I used to do prescription meds. easier to get then weed. it started in like high school like 5 years back when youd trade ppl your parents meds for their parents meds. so you can get lots of really good uppers like xanax and perkadan. then we'd sell a few of them. once you get to college you can get regular drugs so it doesn't really matter from then on. once you start working like here in downtown wiscon you can get a fix anywhere so you don't have to do prescription meds.
if you want to stop this you need to get the parents involved and get them to lock up their meds. also check on pharamcetists where teens are alloewd to work - lots of pharmacests sell prescription meds to teens without a prescription they know it's illegal but they only care about the money.
Posted by Stuart Hannig on July 09, 2009I'm a firm believer in drug testing. Which drug would you like to try next?
Posted by 8080Harley on July 09, 2009Wow, very valid points indeed!
Posted by John Soso on July 09, 2009