Study: More teens abusing prescription drugs

Prescription drug abuse by young people in California is occurring at an “alarming rate,” according to a new report from the state Attorney General’s office.

The recently released study indicates higher levels of drug use among high school students because of previous under-reporting of prescription and over-the-counter drug use and suggests abstinence-only education may be failing with students.

The California Student Survey, conducted during the 2007-08 school year by the Crime and Violence Prevention Center, an operation of the Attorney General’s office, collected data from 13,930 students in 115 public middle and high schools.

The survey’s findings indicate three major trends:

• Prescription drug use is occurring at an “alarming rate.”

•First-time data collected on the use of over-the-counter drugs indicate many teens are taking them to get “high.”

• Heavy drug users are still a significant group in California.

The survey also supports 2005 findings that prevention efforts may be “bottoming out” and further reductions in drug use may be more difficult to achieve.

The California Student Survey is a mandated statewide project conducted since 1985, and every two years the CSS presents its findings of students’ risky and health-related behaviors.

“The most significant but disturbing overall finding of the 12th biennial survey is —because of under-assessment of recreational use of prescription and over-the-counter drugs — that we have previously underestimated actual levels of youth substance abuse,” the report said.

Locally, school administrators had mixed things to say about the findings.

While Tioga High School Principal Sandy Bradley said the school has only had one incident of drugs this school year — marijuana possession by a community day school student — she thinks the consequences have served as a deterrent.

When the school conducts drug-sniffing dog searches, each classroom is searched rather than just lockers or random classrooms.

“Every kid is under scrutiny,” Bradley said.

Additionally, about half of the student body participates in sports, and athletes are randomly drug tested.

“The kids don’t want to lose that capability or opportunity (to play),” Bradley said. “I think my kids that are using are doing it off campus.”

Summerville High School Principal Dave Urquhart agrees with the survey, in that he has seen an increase in the use of prescription drug offenses by students in recent years.

Bret Harte High School Principal Dean Way said there have only been about four incidents during the 2007-08 school year that he can recall, and one was for prescription drugs, one was for furnishing and the others were for being under the influence of alcohol or marijuana.

“We’ve had more kids in the last couple of years talking about huffing, sniffing, or taking their parents’ medications,” said Heather O’Brophy, a social worker for Bret Harte High School.

O’Brophy said she’s never heard of students attending “pharm parties,” where youths take different prescription drugs they’ve acquired, but has heard there is more use of the drug ecstasy than ever before.

O’Brophy works with a substance-abuse education group and said most come from families where there has been a disruption in the family environment.

Because parents may be working longer hours to make ends meet, children are not as supervised as they need to be.

“It’s not fair to just pin it on families,” O’Brophy said. “Young kids are exposed to all sorts of media messages, without proper discussion on what the messages do or don’t mean.”

Some children get the drugs from their parents, from their medicine cabinets or even from medical marijuana users. Some parents even allow their children to drink at home, because they don’t challenge the “they’re going to do it anyway” myth.

“Research is showing a relationship between early use and a lifetime pattern of dependency,” O’Brophy said. “These are great risks for young people to be taking.”

Sonora Regional Medical Center has seen a high number of drug-related emergency room admissions.

From Jan. 1, 2008, to Feb. 11, 2009, there were 77 cases of 13- to 19-year-olds admitted to Sonora Regional’s ER for drug- or alcohol-related symptoms, said Gail Witzlsteiner, hospital spokeswoman.

There were a number of secondary causes, she said,and drugs taken ranged from marijuana, amphetamines and over the counter drugs to opiates.

The state survey asked students about alcohol, tobacco, binge drinking, marijuana, inhalants, painkillers, methamphetamine, smokeless tobacco, and polydrug use, which is using two or more different drugs on the same occasion.

It also assesses risky behavior, such as riding in a car with a driver who has been drinking or doing drugs.

New data indicates 37 percent of ninth-grade students and 50 percent of 11th-graders have used either illicit drugs or diverted prescription drugs to get high at least once in their lifetime. Diverted drugs include pain medication, sedatives and diet pills.

When recreational use of over-the-counter cold medicine is added to the measure, drug use percentages rise to 45 percent in ninth grade and 57 percent in 11th-grade. The prescription drugs most commonly abused were pain medicine such as OxyContin and Vicodin.

“Despite long-term efforts to reduce youth experimentation with psychoactive substances, the social climate among young people seems to at least tolerate experimentation,” the report said. “This is further evident in the percentages of respondents who perceived no or only slight harm in occasional use.”

Marsha Rosenbaum, author of “Safety First, a Reality-Based Approach to Teens and Drugs,” a project of the Drug Policy Alliance of San Francisco, says that despite the federal government spending $2 billion annually on school-based anti-drug education, teens are still experimenting because the prevention methods are unrealistic.

“In the effort to stop teenage experimentation, prevention messages often pretend there is no difference between use and abuse,” Rosenbaum said. “This hypocritical message is often dismissed by teens who see that adults routinely make distinctions between use and abuse.”

So what really works?

“The peer-to-peer approach,” said Shary Trent, coordinator of Friday Night Live, a local mentoring program, where high school juniors and seniors meet regularly with middle school students and talk to them about drugs, alcohol and high school.

Mentors tell their younger counterparts “how to navigate through school without doing drugs,” Trent said. They let them know that you can say no and still be “cool,” and also tell them about their own experiences.

Younger students have the opportunity to ask candid questions without being scared or feeling stupid and get real answers from peers they can look up to.

“The mentor program has been pretty effective,” Trent said.

“Prevention is fundamentally about caring, connected relationships and an open exchange of information. There are no easy answers, just thoughtful conversation,” Rosenbaum said. “The reality is that a trusting, open relationship with a parent or other respected adult can be the most powerful element in deterring abusive patterns.”

Trent also thinks parents should be aware of what is in their medicine or liquor cabinets.

“I think that if we’re going to prevent this kind of use, distribution needs to be monitored,” Trent said. “It may not be your child taking it, (but) it may be your child selling it.”

FNL has people who have had experiences with drugs or alcohol come speak to the children, such as someone who killed others in a drunken-driving accident.

“Prevention does really start with education, letting them know what the realities are,” Trent said. “The younger we start — fourth, fifth and sixth grade — is better.”

To read the entire survey, visit www.drugpolicy.org.