Rise in Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse Impacting Teens

Rise in Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse As with any type of mind-altering drug, prescription drug
misuse and abuse can affect judgment and inhibition,

Impacting Teens
putting adolescents at heightened risk for HIV and other
sexually transmitted infections, misusing other kinds of
drugs, and engaging in additional risky behaviors.
The fastest-growing drug problem in the United States isn’t
cocaine, heroin, or methamphetamines. It is prescription
drugs, and it is profoundly affecting the lives of teenagers.
Solutions: Here are several ways to minimize prescription
According to National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)
drug misuse and abuse among young people:
DrugFacts, prescription drug misuse and abuse is when
someone takes a medication inappropriately (for example,
without a prescription). Sadly, prescription drug misuse
and abuse among young people is not an insignificant
problem. According to National Survey on Drug Use and Education: One in four teenagers believe that
Health (NSDUH) data on youth and young adults, more prescription drugs can be used as a study aid and
than 5,700 youth in 2014 reported using prescription pain nearly one-third of parents say that they believe
relievers without a doctor’s guidance for the first time. that attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
(ADHD) medication can improve a child’s
A common misperception is that prescription drugs are academic or testing performance, even if that
safer or less harmful to one’s body than other kinds of child does not have ADHD. Parents, children, and
drugs. However, there is a range of short- and long-term prescribers must be educated on the impact of
health consequences for each type of prescription drug prescription drugs on the developing brain.
used inappropriately:
Stimulants have side effects in common with

cocaine, and may include paranoia, dangerously
high body temperatures, and an irregular Safe medication storage and disposal:
heartbeat, especially if stimulants are taken in Two-thirds of teens who misused pain relievers
large doses or in ways other than swallowing a in the past year say that they got them from
pill. family and friends, including their home’s
medicine cabinets, making it important to
safeguard medicine in the home, according to
the Partnership for Drug-Free Kids. Safe storage
and disposal of medications diminish
Opioids, which act on the same parts of the opportunities for easy access.
brain as heroin, can cause drowsiness, nausea,
constipation, and, depending on the amount
taken, slowed breathing.
Prescription drug monitoring: Many people are

calling on doctors and pharmacies to better
monitor how (and how often) drugs are
Depressants can cause slurred speech, shallow prescribed. Doctors more readily hand out
breathing, fatigue, disorientation, lack of prescription painkillers than they did ten years
coordination, and seizures upon withdrawal from ago, and, according to some sources,
chronic use. pharmacists do not habitually check prescription
drug registries, which help to identify potential
over-prescribing and misuse.
These impacts can be particularly harmful to a developing

adolescent brain and body. Our brains continue to develop
until we reach our early- to mid-twenties. During In addition, educating adolescents and their parents about
adolescence, the pre-frontal cortex further develops to the risks of drug misuse and abuse can play a role in
enable us to set priorities, formulate strategies, allocate combating the problem. The National Institute on Drug
attention, and control impulses. The outer mantle of the Abuse (NIDA), a component of the National Institutes of
brain also experiences a burst of development, helping us Health (NIH), created the website NIDA for Teens: The
to become more sophisticated at processing abstract Science Behind Drug Abuse to educate teens, their
information and understanding rules, laws, and codes of parents, and teachers on the science behind prescription
social conduct. Drug use impacts perception—a skill drug misuse and abuse. Developed with the help of teens
adolescent brains are actively trying to cultivate—and can to ensure relevance, NIDA scientists created a site that
fracture developing neural pathways. Additionally, as our delivers science-based facts about how drugs affect the
brains are becoming hardwired during adolescence, the brain and body so that young people will be armed with
pathways being reinforced are the ones that stick. If those better information to make healthy decisions.
pathways include addiction, the impact may lead to
life-long challenges.

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Rise in Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse Impacting Teens

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Rise in Prescription Drug Misuse and Abuse As with any type of mind-altering drug, prescription drug

misuse and abuse can affect judgment and inhibition,

Stimulants have side effects in common with

Prescription drug monitoring: Many people are

These impacts can be particularly harmful to a developing

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