“Teen Drug Abuse Rates Stay Steady”
Teen age drug abuse is a major concern for parents and the latest report shows that they should be. Parents may be the “supplier” for their teen and not even know it.
“Sept. 6, 2007 — Illegal drug use among U.S. teens didn’t drop for the first time since 2002, according to a government report released Thursday.
The report also showed a continuing rise in the use of prescription drugs for recreational purposes, a trend that is alarming drug officials.
The report, released annually by the Bush administration, showed 9.8% of American kids between 12 and 17 years of age used an illegal drug within a month of being surveyed in 2006. The figure is unchanged from the same report the year before, even though illegal drug use overall is down about 15% since 2002, according to the report.
Prescription Abuse
Officials blamed the stagnation on rising abuse rates of painkillers and other prescription drugs. Nearly 50 million Americans older than 12 years of age acknowledged using prescription drugs for a nonmedical use, a large jump from three years earlier.Most abuse of prescription drugs involves narcotic painkillers like Vicodin and OxyContin. In May, OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma was fined $600 million after pleading guilty to concealing the addictive risks of the drug.
But Bush administration officials said Thursday that most of the abused supply of the drugs comes from leftover pills in unused prescriptions.
Terry Cline, PhD, chief of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration, said the agency is launching a campaign in pharmacies warning patients to discard their unused pills.”
(source)
KD
Teen Age Drug Abuse