Prescription medications are killing teenagers like never before. The current scourge of Western society, prescription medications, is causing more poisonings among our youth than ever before.
The Center For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released a rather alarming statistic this week regarding teen deaths. The incidents of teen fatalities related to poisonings among 15 to 19 year olds increased more than 90% between 2000 and 2009. This is reported in patch.com. I would hope that a 90% increase would alarm you!
Many teens shy away from illegal street drugs, however, more and more teens are turning to prescription drugs and over the counter medicines to get high. These drugs include pain killers that might be prescribed after a person undergoes surgery, depressants that are taken for sleep aid, depression or anxiety or stimulants such as those used for ADHD.
Given the vastness of America’s problem with respect to prescription medication, I would hope it is well-known that narcotic pain killers like Vicodin, OxyContin, Percocet or Lortab, including the generics such as methadone and hydrocodone are highly addictive and are very dangerous.
Each day 2,500 students from 12 to 17 abuse a pain relieving drug for the first time.
In fact, prescription medicine is the second most abused drug other than marijuana. Most teenagers obtain these prescription meds by stealing them from their parent’s medicine cabinets and even share them with friends or sell them at school.
Parents need to keep prescription medication out of their children’s hands. Old prescriptions need to be disposed of properly and parents need to educate their kids on the dangers of prescription medication. If you are a parent and worried about how to educate your child about drugs, I recommend a minor in possession class. There also are online drug classes.