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 Bridgeburner
Not spiritual at all.
Registered: 09/16/06
Posts: 20,010
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 Teens get prescription drugs more 
#8780979 - 08/16/08 06:56 AM (13 years, 9 months ago) |
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link
What is easier for a typical teen to get their hands on: a six pack of beer or a bunch of prescription drugs?
More teens now say it's easier for them to acquire prescription drugs -- usually powerful painkillers -- than it is to buy beer, according to the 13th annual survey on attitudes about drug abuse from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.
Parents also are very ignorant about their teens' use of drugs and alcohol, says the survey, which came out Thursday, of teens 12 to 17 and their parents.
Almost half (46 percent) of teens surveyed say they leave their homes on school nights to hang out with friends -- and sometimes use drugs and alcohol. But only 14 percent of parents say their teens leave home to hang out with friends.
Teens still say it's easiest to buy cigarettes and marijuana. But for the first time, they say prescription drugs not prescribed to them are easier to get than beer, the survey says.
Their main source of drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin and Ritalin: "the medicine cabinet," says Elizabeth Planet, director of special projects for CASA. "Another big source of these drugs are their friends."
"These parents are passive pushers by not taking care of their drugs," adds Joseph Califano, CASA president.
The survey did not delve into the precise reasons teens take these drugs, but they may think that because they're prescribed, they're safer than alcohol or illegal drugs such as marijuana, Califano says.
They're not, says Ralph Lopez, a New York pediatrician who specializes in teens and a clinical associate professor of pediatrics at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University.
Drugs such as Vicodin, a commonly prescribed pain pill that causes a drunklike feeling, can be detrimental to the still-developing teenage brain and can impair judgment in people who already are prone to mistakes in judgment.
They increase "the risk for accidents, sexual activities (and) more drugs," Lopez says.
The survey comes at a time when teen use of illegal drugs is actually down, says Tom Riley, spokesman for the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
"While teen use of illegal drugs has gone down in recent years, the one category that has gone up is teen abuse of prescription drugs," Riley says. "Americans are in denial about how widespread this problem is."
Many recommend locking up drugs. But the best way to prevent drug abuse is good old-fashioned parenting, Planet and others say.
"We know from our research that parental engagement -- being involved in your kids' lives, monitoring what they're up to -- is a very key component in teen substance risk."
The phone survey reached 1,002 teens and 312 parents this past spring. The margin of error is 3.1 percentage points.
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0kehSt0nr
Bakery Fresh
Registered: 03/15/06
Posts: 767
Loc: smb://slakcr
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Re: Teens get prescription drugs more [Re: Bridgeburner]
#8781027 - 08/16/08 07:35 AM (13 years, 9 months ago) |
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another drug epidemic omg! 
"But the best way to prevent drug abuse is good old-fashioned parenting" - at least that part is true; not blaming it on TV or video games for once.
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Cognitive_Shift
CS actual
Registered: 12/11/07
Posts: 29,591
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Re: Teens get prescription drugs more [Re: Bridgeburner]
#8781300 - 08/16/08 10:01 AM (13 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
Drugs such as Vicodin, a commonly prescribed pain pill that causes a drunklike feelingQuote:
WTF? vicodin causes a drunklike feeling? Im pretty sure it produces an opiate intoxication feeling.
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L'enfer est plein de bonnes volontés et désirs
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 ExplosiveMango
HallucinogenusDigitallus
Registered: 07/12/05
Posts: 3,222
Last seen: 12 years, 6 months
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Well I'm glad that they at least can't get as many non-toxic plant sourced substances.
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Know your self.
Know your substance.
Know your source.
The most distorted perspective possible is the perspective that yours is not distorted.
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SolomonTheShaman
I love to travel
Registered: 07/06/08
Posts: 211
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
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 Re: Teens get prescription drugs more [Re: Bridgeburner]
#8781914 - 08/16/08 01:53 PM (13 years, 9 months ago) |
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The survey did not delve into the precise reasons teens take these drugs, but they may think that because they're prescribed, they're safer than alcohol or illegal drugs such as marijuana, Califano says.
Safer than marijuana? Synthetic prescription drugs? Really? So the president of this National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse @ Columbia U. REALLY just said that drugs like Vicodin and Oxycontin are safer than pot. From what I've read and come to understand, marijuana is way less addictive and has virtually nil on the side affects compared to most pain killing Rx meds. I find it highly surprising this dude's in the position he's in. I'm going to try to do more research about these guys.
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"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
-Mohandas Gandhi
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gluvbox
mycophagist
Registered: 07/15/08
Posts: 145
Last seen: 13 years, 1 day
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Re: Teens get prescription drugs more [Re: Bridgeburner]
#8782000 - 08/16/08 02:16 PM (13 years, 9 months ago) |
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Quote:
They increase "the risk for accidents, sexual activities (and) more drugs," Lopez says.
I think increasing the likelihood of sexual activity is a major driving factor. I'm not sure that you can call a desired outcome a risk.
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PsilocybinMike
T.F.Y.Q.A
Registered: 02/18/08
Posts: 2,602
Last seen: 6 years, 2 months
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Quote:
Cognitive_Shift said:
Quote:
Drugs such as Vicodin, a commonly prescribed pain pill that causes a drunklike feelingQuote:
WTF? vicodin causes a drunklike feeling? Im pretty sure it produces an opiate intoxication feeling.
Everything is a "drunklike feeling" to someone who may have only had alcohol in their life, yet feel they are "educated" enough to tell people how X substance feels and what it does. lOlzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaammmm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVZBTAYm3rw
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usefulidiot13
Dark Passenger
Registered: 05/22/07
Posts: 11,583
Loc: Death From Above
Last seen: 9 years, 11 months
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Quote:
SolomonTheShaman said:
The survey did not delve into the precise reasons teens take these drugs, but they may think that because they're prescribed, they're safer than alcohol or illegal drugs such as marijuana, Califano says.
Safer than marijuana? Synthetic prescription drugs? Really? So the president of this National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse @ Columbia U. REALLY just said that drugs like Vicodin and Oxycontin are safer than pot. From what I've read and come to understand, marijuana is way less addictive and has virtually nil on the side affects compared to most pain killing Rx meds. I find it highly surprising this dude's in the position he's in. I'm going to try to do more research about these guys.
no no you are misreading somewhere. they are saying that they think kids are using scripts because the kids themselves think that the pills are safer than pot.
a doc clearly says that he does not think prescription pills are safter than pot or alcohol.
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What Would Dexter Do?
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