Page 8 - Demo

According to 2014 survey results,
cigarette, alcohol and inhalant use by 8th, 10th and 12th-graders are at their lowest point since NIDA’s Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey began polling teenagers in 1975. However, this positive news is tempered by a slower rate of decline in teen smoking as well as an increasingly high rate of abuse of other tobacco products (such as hookahs, small cigars, smokeless tobacco and E-cigarettes), and an alarming increase in marijuana and prescription drugs. The survey results appear to show that more teens continue to abuse marijuana more than cigarettes; and alcohol is still the drug of choice among all three age groups queried. Though abuse of most illicit drugs by teens has fallen over the past decade, prescription drug abuse and heroin is on the rise.
Prescription drugs are abused for many reasons. It may be simply to get high or it may
be because the user has developed an addiction. Whatever the reason, this abuse carries the same dangers as abuse of illegal drugs. When prescription medications are abused, they can sicken and even kill the user. Medications sold over-the-counter (OTC) without a prescription, are also potential drugs of abuse. Cough and cold medicines are a particular problem. Over 120 such products, both tablets and syrups, contain Dextromethorphan (DXM). DXM goes by slang names such as DM, nicks, robo, rojo, skittles, dex, tussin, velvet and vitamin D. By taking an excessive dose of DXM abusers can create a feeling of euphoria. It also can cause dizziness, nausea, hallucinations, seizures and even death. Cases of DXM overdose often show up in emergency rooms in clusters as word of how to get a DXM high spreads into nearby schools.
Prescription drugs are safely and beneficially taken by many people every day. The thing that makes prescription medications safe is the fact that a physician is controlling the patient’s dosage. So what constitutes abuse of these substances?
According to NIDA’s 2014 Monitoring the Future survey, four percent of United States 12th graders report getting high on cough medicine.
Abuse Is Any Use Of Prescription Drugs Where The Physician Control Is Side-Stepped, For Example:
• Taking prescription drugs without a
In the same survey, prescription and over-the-counter medications accounted for eight of the top fourteen types of drugs abused by 12th graders. Besides cough and cold remedies, other OTC drugs commonly abused are motion sickness, sleeping and diet pills.
prescription
• Taking more. than the recommended dosage
• Crushing pills to prevent time release
• Faking symptoms or going to multiple doctors
for prescriptions
7 • L.A.W. Publications