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Youth Use of Prescription Drugs Rises
January 3, 2006

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Research Summary

Abuse of prescription drugs is rising among American youths even as use of other drugs seems to be leveling off or declining, according to the annual Monitoring the Future study.

The Associated Press reported Dec. 24 that 5.5 percent of high-school seniors reported illicit use of the prescription painkiller OxyContin in 2005, up from 4 percent in 2002, and 9.5 percent of seniors said they had used Vicodin recreationally. Such figures made prescription drugs the most popular intoxicants among teens after alcohol and marijuana.

Overall illicit drug use among teens continued a modest decline, with lifetime use falling from 21.5 percent in 2004 to 21.4 percent in 2005 among 8th-graders, from 39.8 percent to 38.2 percent among 10th-graders, and from 51.1 percent to 50.4 percent among 12th-graders.

The survey also showed that while overall youth smoking levels dropped to an all-time low, monthly smoking rose among 8th-graders for the first time since 1996. Marijuana use also declined marginally among 10th- and 12th-graders but rose among 8th-graders.

COMMENTS ON THIS ARTICLE:

Posted by Benjamin on 06 Oct 09 03:32 PM EDT
Teens drug & alcohol abuse is a serious and concerning issue. Due to some effective measures to control illicit drugs, teens are now turning towards prescription drugs abuse or over the counter drugs. Teens are now experimenting more on prescription drugs, over the counter drugs and any other substance that gives them high. Due to changing high school variables in couple of years, we now observe more teens towards Rx abuse. This blog specially written on "High School and it's Variables", here on http://parentingteens.com/blog/high-sfchool-and-its-variables/ , rightly said that this is the daunting scenario that we have today. We are aware of it, the government is aware of it, law enforcers are aware of it but still the nagging problem persists and threatens the fragile future of our youth today. Numbers don’t lie. Nearly half of all high school seniors in America have experimented with illegal drugs and about three quarters have tried alcohol. The problem should be addressed now with more stringent measures and from different fronts. It should be a collective and conscious effort from the government, school administrations and more importantly the parents.

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