Prescription Drugs in Your Medicine Cabinet Could Kill Your Teen

The availability of prescription medicines in the home, is causing many teens and young adults to raid their own medicine cabinets for drugs, in place of soliciting a dealer on the street. Almost everyone has several partial left over prescriptions of drugs for pain or anxiety, such as Vicodin, Percocet, Demerol, or Xanax. Many grandmas take Oxycontin for relief of the pain of rheumatoid arthritis or fibromyalgia, and dentists are handing it out like candy, for pain relief after dental work. Recently, we had to explain to our 19 year old daughter, that she should use it very sparingly, after her wisdom teeth were removed. (She was under the impression that she needed to finish the whole bottle, like former prescription medicines that she had taken.)

No one stops to think that prescription medicines can be just as deadly as street drugs. But it is a fact, that more people lose their lives, as a result of prescription medicine overdoses, than through the use of heroin or cocaine combined. Teenagers and young adults will often find all the drugs that they desire, right in the family medicine cabinet. Few people count their pills, or lock up their prescription medicine bottles, but if you want to spare a teen from drug addiction (or even death) you should consider locking up your potentially dangerous prescription medicines in a family safe. (Some teens also steal drugs, from the medicine cabinet at a friend's house.)

Teens even use new words for this type of drug abuse. It's called "dexting" and "skittling." Once the prescription medicines are obtained from the family medicine cabinet, the drugs are then shared openly at "trail mix" parties. They pour all of their prescription medicines into a large punch bowl, and then grab out handfuls, in a desire to get high. They don't even know what drugs they might be using, or if combining certain drugs could be deadly. This is also known as "pharming." Some of the young people involved in these drug activities are as young as 11.

Sadly, many teens mistakenly believe that drugs obtained this way are safer, and don't consider prescription medicines to be as hazardous as street drugs. (One teenager, when confronted, explained that she saw the prescription medicines advertised on TV, and if they were on television, then they couldn't be dangerous.) Prescription medicines are certainly more easily accessible than street drugs. Because of this, most young drug abusers start their addiction to prescription medicines, right in their own house. Some additional unforeseen dangers of this type of drug abuse, are that young adults often take far more than the prescribed amount of the drugs. They also frequently combine the prescription medicines with alcohol, which can result in a deadly cocktail of drugs. Some of the side effects from prescription medicines (taken indiscriminately) are dizziness, slurred speech, convulsions, coma, digestive problems, seizures, respiratory depression, and even severe heart problems, such as cardiac arrest and death. For some teens, it doesn't require a long period of overdosing on the prescription medicines, for death to occur. The fact is (that for some) it occurs the first time that they abuse prescription drugs. Some examples include an 18 year old, who took 40 milligrams of Oxycontin (a very strong narcotic drug), while drinking a beer, and a 16 year old girl, who died, after taking 80 milligrams of Oxycontin, supplied by a friend. When kids or adults abuse these strong narcotics, they are taking drugs as deadly as heroin or cocaine. They may be prescription medicines, but the effects are the same as street drugs. You wouldn't leave heroin or cocaine in your medicine cabinet, so why would you leave strong narcotics, or other dangerous prescription medicines? (Think of it as though you were leaving a loaded gun on the counter.)

All parents should take preventative action to stop the abuse of prescription medicines in your home. The first step is to be familiar with the drugs that you are taking. Don't let old prescription medicines sit on the shelf, past their expiration date. Dispose of all outdated drugs properly and promptly. For current prescription medicines, note the amount of pills that you have, and when your next refills are due. Remember that your teen's friends, and any visitors to your home, all have access to your medicine cabinet, if it is not locked. So secure your prescription medicines. Put all potentially dangerous drugs in a safe, or put a lock on the medicine cabinet, or some other storage area. Remember, of course, that small safes can easily be carried away, so choose a reliable method of safely securing your prescription medicines. Talk with young adults, about the fact that prescription medicines, and over the counter drugs, can be as equally dangerous, as drugs purchased on the street. Notice any physical or emotional changes in your child, such as red eyes, runny nose, mood swings, decrease or increase in appetite, sweating, unusual abrupt changes in behavior, hyperactivity or passiveness, out of control anger, or lethargy. Any of these symptoms may be an indication that your child is abusing drugs.

According to San Francisco psychologist, Dean Blumberg, the two most vulnerable times in life, to become addicted to drugs, are adolescence and old age. If a young person is not a partaker of the drugs himself, be aware that he could be using the prescription medicines to make money, by selling them to others. If narcotic drugs are involved, he (or she) could be arrested for the possession of a controlled substance, and drug trafficking. At that point, you are dealing with a criminal drug offense. So make sure that, as a parent, you do your part to protect your child, and your child's friends from the temptation of easily accessible prescription medicines in your home. Don't allow yourself to become a "passive pusher."

Sources: http://www.10news.com/health/16669770/detail.htmlrss=sand&psp=health

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/PainManagement/Storyid=4250421&page=1

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/medicinechest_fuelsdrug_use100.html

http://www.teenagerstoday.com/articles/drugs-and-alcohol/danger-in-the-medicine-cabinet-1030/

http://www.nowpublic.com/health/teen-prescription-drug-abuse-mother-they-were-your-medicine-cabinet

http://www.safemedicinecabinet.co.uk/dangers-teenagers-abusing-medicine-cabinet-home.html

http://parentingmethods.suite101.com/article.cfm/teen_prescription_drug_abuse