Who Has Been Stealing from Mom's Medicine Cabinet: Teens Frequently Caught With Their Hands in the Medicinal Cookie Jar

A report released on Wednesday, February 14 by director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy John Walters, pictured right, concluded that teenagers' use of prescription drugs is remaining stable if not increasing even though their use of marijuana has declined in the past three years. A PDF version of the report is available at the ONDCP website. Walters' office found that 2.1 million teenagers abused prescription drugs in 2005, and the most commonly misused drugs are stimulants such as Adderall, painkillers such as OxyContin and Vicodin, and anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax. In an article in the University Daily Kansan, a college sophomore named Sarah describes her former addiction to Adderall, saying, "I took it pretty much before every single test, any time I needed to concentrate and get something done. I'm a really big procrastinator, so it was really easy when I took it because I could just knock something out in an hour."

Adolescents taking stimulants regularly to improve school performance and cut down studying time is much more dangerous than they know. NIDA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, reports that stimulants can have serious consequences including cardiovascular failure and lethal seizures. Painkillers, or opioids, also sometimes have extreme side effects, examples of which are respiratory depression and death. Anti-anxiety drugs, or central nervous system depressants, such as Xanax, often cause withdrawal symptoms such as seizures.

These statistics are not meaningful until they are put into the context of how teenagers feel about prescription medication misuse. A study released on January 24 by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America found that 40% of teens and 37% of parents thought that teen abuse of prescription drugs was safer than abuse of illicit street drugs. Steve Pasierb, president and CEO of the partnership, stated, "This is a case of misinformation and poor attitudes - teens seeing few health risks associated with intentional abuse - teamed with easy access at home and via the Internet. Together it's a potentially lethal combination." What is causing this scary increase in teen abuse of prescription drugs? Psychiatrist Richard Friedman believes that the media may have a great deal to do with this trend. In an article for the New England Journal of Medicine, Friedman writes, "Expenditures by the pharmaceutical industry for direct-to-consumer advertising increased from $1.8 billion in 1999 to $4.2 billion in 2004. One effect has been to foster an image of prescription drugs as an integral and routine aspect of everyday life."

Inundating teens with advertisements for prescription drugs does not send the appropriate message. It is easy to think, "What harm could it do? I just need some sleep." Another cause of the rise in teen prescription drug abuse is easy access. In the New England Journal of Medicine article, a college student named John states that, "Prescription drugs are a lot easier to get than street drugs. Kids can get then on the street, from parents and friends, or on the Internet." Aside from these personal avenues to prescription medications, teenagers also have a very easy time getting the drugs from doctors. An 18-year- old named Claire told Friedman, "You can always find a doctor who you can convince that you have a sleeping problem to get Ambien or that you have ADD to get Adderall."

To help reverse the increasing frequency of teenage prescription drug abuse, Friedman suggests educating doctors about the signs of addiction and also addressing the issue directly with teenagers, since they underestimate the dangers of using stimulants, depressants, and anti-anxiety prescription medications. The ONDCP took measures February 20th by releasing new guidelines for prescription drug disposal, which calls for putting unused or expired prescription medications in undesirable substances, sealing them in plastic bags, and throwing them away or taking them to pharmaceutical return locations. If people keep up with these guidelines, as well as the educational measures suggested above, teenagers should experience much more difficulty in obtaining these potentially dangerous prescription medications. The bottom line is, the medicinal cookie jar needs to be under lock and key, and teenagers need to know that there are consequences to sticking their hands in it.