VIDEO: teenagers taking cough and cold medicines to get high
This NBC news broadcast warns parents about the allure, danger, and warning signs of teenage addiction to OTC cough and cold medicines.
Source
introduction
According to a recent Gallup poll, the use and temptation of drugs is the leading problem that American teenagers and young adults face. One in twelve Americans over the age of 12 admits that they currently use illicit drugs. According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one in five teenagers admits to using prescription drugs to get high, and one in ten teenagers admits to using over the counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines to get high. Nearly two-thirds of teens report that prescription pain relievers are easy to find at home, in the medicine cabinet. Healthy People 2010 shows that 30% of all deaths in the United States are premature because of psychoactive substances. The leading causes of death in Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 are accidents, suicides, and homicides…in many cases directly because of drug use. Almost all drug use begins in the teenage years where conflict, pressure, temptation, curiosity, and drug availability are all increasingly present. However, regardless of age, class, gender, or religion, all groups are susceptible to fall victim to the appeal and effects of psychoactive drugs.
Source
Image
how does prescription drug addiction occur?
Narcotics, or painkillers, are drugs commonly prescribed to patients to alleviate intense pain and suffering. Morphine, an opiate, is one of the most commonly prescribed narcotics. However, opium is also present in the street drug heroin and creates hallucinogenic changes in mood and feeling. Natural pain remedies such as the coca leaf has a modern derivative in the street drug cocaine, which has become increasingly abused in the past 20 years. Cocaine acts as a central nervous system stimulant (creating “highs” because of nervous system overactivity) and as an appetite suppressant. It becomes easier to understand the addictive effects of prescription drugs when their relationship to illicit drugs is explained. Patients who take prescription drugs for pain and post-operative management sometimes find themselves addicted to the pleasant effects of the drug (mood change, increased sensation, alleviation of depression) and continue administration of the drug long after the intended result of the drug is achieved.
(Sanberg, Paul, Ph.D. and Michael Bunsey. "Prescription Narcotics: The Addictive Painkillers." Chelsea House Publishers: 1986.)
The goals of this blog are to:
.educate readers about the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse
.explain the appeal, availability, and dangers of abuse, specifically among teens, and discuss treatment
.supply parents with prescription and OTC drug abuse warning signs and stress the importance of communicating with teens
.provide a variety of sources and information so readers can further their knowledge of this increasingly-present and often-overlooked form of substance abuse
According to a recent Gallup poll, the use and temptation of drugs is the leading problem that American teenagers and young adults face. One in twelve Americans over the age of 12 admits that they currently use illicit drugs. According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, one in five teenagers admits to using prescription drugs to get high, and one in ten teenagers admits to using over the counter (OTC) cough and cold medicines to get high. Nearly two-thirds of teens report that prescription pain relievers are easy to find at home, in the medicine cabinet. Healthy People 2010 shows that 30% of all deaths in the United States are premature because of psychoactive substances. The leading causes of death in Americans between the ages of 15 and 24 are accidents, suicides, and homicides…in many cases directly because of drug use. Almost all drug use begins in the teenage years where conflict, pressure, temptation, curiosity, and drug availability are all increasingly present. However, regardless of age, class, gender, or religion, all groups are susceptible to fall victim to the appeal and effects of psychoactive drugs.
Source
Image
how does prescription drug addiction occur?
Narcotics, or painkillers, are drugs commonly prescribed to patients to alleviate intense pain and suffering. Morphine, an opiate, is one of the most commonly prescribed narcotics. However, opium is also present in the street drug heroin and creates hallucinogenic changes in mood and feeling. Natural pain remedies such as the coca leaf has a modern derivative in the street drug cocaine, which has become increasingly abused in the past 20 years. Cocaine acts as a central nervous system stimulant (creating “highs” because of nervous system overactivity) and as an appetite suppressant. It becomes easier to understand the addictive effects of prescription drugs when their relationship to illicit drugs is explained. Patients who take prescription drugs for pain and post-operative management sometimes find themselves addicted to the pleasant effects of the drug (mood change, increased sensation, alleviation of depression) and continue administration of the drug long after the intended result of the drug is achieved.
(Sanberg, Paul, Ph.D. and Michael Bunsey. "Prescription Narcotics: The Addictive Painkillers." Chelsea House Publishers: 1986.)
The goals of this blog are to:
.educate readers about the growing epidemic of prescription drug abuse
.explain the appeal, availability, and dangers of abuse, specifically among teens, and discuss treatment
.supply parents with prescription and OTC drug abuse warning signs and stress the importance of communicating with teens
.provide a variety of sources and information so readers can further their knowledge of this increasingly-present and often-overlooked form of substance abuse
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
great video! i saw this broadcast last week and it was very enlightening.
ReplyDeleteSad commentary on today's youth.....
ReplyDeleteThis is so sad but true, what's worse is that these youth will be our leaders in a few years....
ReplyDeleteWhat a great, relevant, and current newscast. I like that you included this in your blog.
ReplyDeleteanother thing that is sad but true is some rappers promote this misuse of cough medicine. its been mentioned by lil wayne several times some sort of concoction of cough syrup and other stuff. What a role model.
ReplyDeleteI had a buddy in the Army who tried to convince me to drink an entire bottle of cough medicine. We ere not allowed to drink. I did not find this alternative attractive.
ReplyDelete