212% spike in 12-17 year olds abusing prescription drugs since 1992

October 24, 2008
Are parents passive pushers?
Posted: 09:47 AM ET

Teen drug and alcohol abuse is a serious issue; one affecting a lot of families in America. In fact, there has been a 212 percent increase in 12- to 17-year olds abusing prescription drugs since 1992. So where do you think these teens are getting their drugs? Officials says some parents may be enabling their teensâ?? dangerous habits.

Columbia Universityâ??s National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) reports a third of teenagers are getting prescription drugs, mostly painkillers, from homeâ??either given to them by a parent, or taking them straight from a parentâ??s medicine cabinet. Marijuana abuse has also become an issue. 25 percent of teens surveyed said they know a parent who uses marijuana, and about 10 percent of those parents are using the drug with their teenage kid.

So what needs to change to reverse this troubling trend? The answer may be as simple as re-engaging in your teenâ??s life.

Monitor teen whereabouts: Have your kids stay home on school nights and set realistic curfews. The CASA study found that 50 percent of teens who are allowed to stay out after 10 p.m. on school nights are using marijuana, alcohol or smoking cigarettes.

More family dinners: Studies show kids who have dinner with family five or more days/week are significantly less likely to abuse drugs and alcohol.

Model healthy behaviors: Teens often look to parents as examples when setting boundaries in their own life. So donâ??t use drugs with your teen and donâ??t be afraid to talk about the dangers of drug abuse.

Safeguard prescription drugs: Keep painkillers and other prescription drugs in a place not assessible to your teen.

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More info on the survey: CASA Ordering

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just imagine half of this would at worse be marijuana abuse by teens had marijuana lawfully been an alternative for a lot of these pills, and if information was provided without the lies and bias that it currently includes and education would have been allowed its neutral process, even such a potential widespread mj abuse would have easily been reduced to a great extent or literally eliminated.

I wish I were in that 10% of the 25%

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Originally Posted by DOUGAL25

I wish I were in that 10% of the 25%

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u r not a teen r ya? lol

I can't say if i would have liked it or not when I was a teen to chill w/ my parents... not all people who smoke are gonna be fun and my parents being who they are only if they would have smoked with me, would probably not be such a good idea!!!

this is absurd on how much perscriptions are abused


its crazy to see that they still think cannabis is a gateway drug, but they dont even look at perscriptions and alcohol as the true gateway drug it is. lets be honest kids see those actions first from their parents and alot of times the kids like to copy their parents

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Originally Posted by texas grass

this is absurd on how much perscriptions are abused


its crazy to see that they still think cannabis is a gateway drug, but they dont even look at perscriptions and alcohol as the true gateway drug it is. lets be honest kids see those actions first from their parents and alot of times the kids like to copy their parents

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True, I kinda thought the point of the piece was more about propaganda against MJ than the "legal" prescription drugs. I think the big pharma co. are ok addicting kids.

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Originally Posted by theforthdrive

True, I kinda thought the point of the piece was more about propaganda against MJ than the "legal" prescription drugs. I think the big pharma co. are ok addicting kids.

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if they werent, we wouldnt have so many ADD kids on pills that will most likely make them coke-heads later on in their lives

I have seen many high school kids with ADD taking prescription drugs and that so easily became their gateway entrance to coke addiction... sad

Yeah ADD pills are a bad abuse I use to know a person who would eat months worth at a time and abused them for years.. Without it even being a gateway drug to ''worse'' things like coke. Anything can mess your body up in large enough amounts.. So even if it dosen't bring upon another drug of choice, it still can be equally as dangerous.