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Teen Prescription Drug Abuse
October 18, 2009 |
It appears more teens are turning to the family’s medicine cabinet to get high –with
prescription drugs. “Most of the the time they are going to be doing it with their
friends outside your view and they are going to be doing it for recreational reasons,”
explains Dr. Timothy Dougherty, Medical Director of Cape Coral Hospital’ Emergency
Department.
A new study finds that 20% of teens have not only abused but have shared prescription
medication with their friends. A statistic that did not surprise Dr. Dougherty.
“I think that number is actually probably under, number one. And secondly, they’re
sharing drugs and not even knowing what exactly they are sharing,” he adds.
The reasons why teens are abusing are numerous. “You could be an athelete and you
want to make weight for wrestling, so you may be rummaging through and getting dieurectics
to lose weight. You may be a teenager that is just looking to get high and you are
taking Grandma’s percoset or dad’s percoset from a tooth extraction that they had
left over. Some is just for experimentation which is very common in teenagers.”
Dr. Dougherty warns that sometimes the signs of abuse aren’t evident immediately.
Long term abuse can result in loss of concentration, slipping grades, even emotional
withdraw from the family.
“Sit down and talk with them, okay, and not in confrontation, but in actually conversation.”
You may also want to have a conversation with the teen’s physician for further instructions
as to how to handle the situation.
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