Talking to Your Teen About Prescription Drug Use
By Leslie Davis
About 40 percent of teens believe that prescription medications are safer to use than illegal drugs, according to the National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE).
That means that your teen is more likely to have abused prescription drugs (such as Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder [ADHD] medication, pain relievers, acne medication, cough suppressants, anxiety medication and sedatives) than to have experimented with illegal drugs.
The place teens are most likely to access those drugs? Your medicine cabinet.
Because prescription drugs are easier to access, either at your house or the house of a friend, it is important to talk to your teen about the risks and proper use of prescription drugs.
September’s National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month, now in its 20th year, is the ideal time for you to begin an open dialogue and provide your teen with information about prescription drugs to lessen the chance that they will use the medications improperly.
Why You Should Be Concerned
Nearly one in five teens reports abusing prescription medications to get high, said NCPIE. About 20 percent of teens have “borrowed” or “loaned” prescription drugs to or from friends, according to a recent study in the Journal of Adolescent Health. That could result in dangerous interactions with other medications.
Calls to poison control centers regarding teen abuse of ADHD medication have increased nearly 80 percent between 1998 and 2005, according to a recent study published in the journal Pediatrics. Substance-related abuse calls for every million teen prescriptions increased 140 percent during that time period.
Data accumulated from the American Association of Poison Control Centers indicated either that the abuse of stimulants is rising among teens or that the increased calls are evidence of the growing severity of prescription drug misuse.
The data reflected calls regarding teens with prescriptions for ADHD medication who intentionally abused or misused their medication. During the time the calls were observed, estimated prescriptions for teens and pre-teens rose by 133 percent for amphetamines and 52 percent for methylphenidate products, both of which are used in ADHD medication.
Prescription Drugs in Your Home
Keeping prescription drugs out of your home is most likely unavoidable. Chances are at least one person in your household takes a regular prescription medication, or there are expired drugs lurking in your medicine cabinet.
Making sure your teen does not become addicted to prescription drugs doesn’t require banning the medications from your house. What it does require is educating your teens so that they make good decisions while being conscious about how you handle prescription medications in your household.
NCPIE offers these tips:
- Teach your teen the appropriate use of prescription medications, including both those they may be taking and any others that are in your home.
- Inform your teen of the risks and benefits of prescription drugs.
- Keep only those prescription medications that you need, and keep them in a safe place.
- Properly dispose of any unused prescription drugs.
- Let your teens know that they can talk to you about prescription drugs or any other questions they may have.
- Monitor your teen’s use of the Internet to check for any unapproved online purchases of medications.
Is Your Teen Addicted to Prescription Drugs?
Teens begin using prescription drugs for many reasons. They may be trying to fit in with their friends or just interested in experimenting with a drug. Most teens don’t realize the danger of taking drugs not prescribed for them or not following the medication’s directions. Those dangers include heart failure, slowed brain activity or lethal seizures, and an increased risk of suicide attempts.
Here are some things NCPIE recommends watching out for if you are concerned that your teen is abusing prescription medication:
- Increased fatigue
- Red or glazed eyes
- Sudden mood changes, including irritability and negative attitude
- General lack of interest in activities they once enjoyed
- Increased secretiveness and withdrawal from family and friends
- Decreased or obsessive interest in school work
- Missing prescription medications in your home
- Additional filled prescriptions on your pharmacy record that you didn’t fill
Use the fact that this month is Recovery Month to engage your teen in a dialogue about the dangers of prescription drugs. If you are worried that your teen is abusing prescription drugs, ask. If you are concerned about the honesty of the answers, have your family doctor or school counselor address the topic with your teen.
If you find out your teen is addicted to prescription drugs, seek help before the problem turns more serious. Contact a mental health professional or residential boarding school that specializes in teens to treat the addiction as early as possible. A residential boarding school can provide the support and structure teens need while ensuring they don’t fall behind in their classes.
Remember that the more informed teens are, the less likely they are to abuse prescription drugs. Make Recovery Month the month you finally begin this important conversation with your teen.
