Prescription drugs find place in teen culture

[lovuian]

http://feeds.bignewsnetwork.com/redir.php?jid=338037bf14801aef&cat=c08dd24cec417021

When a teenager in Jan Sigerson's office mentioned a "pharm party" in February, Sigerson thought the youth was talking about a keg party out on a farm.
"Pharm," it turned out, was short for pharmaceuticals, such as the powerful painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin. Sigerson, program director for Journeys, a teen drug treatment program in Omaha, soon learned that area youths were organizing parties to down fistfuls of prescription drugs. Since February, several more youths at Journeys have mentioned that they attended pharm parties, Sigerson says.

"When you start to see a pattern, you know it's becoming pretty widespread," she says. "I expect it to get worse before it gets better."

Drug counselors across the USA are beginning to hear about similar pill-popping parties, which are part of a rapidly developing underground culture that surrounds the rising abuse of prescription drugs by teens and young adults.

It's a culture with its own lingo: Bowls and baggies of random pills often are called "trail mix," and on Internet chat sites, collecting pills from the family medicine chest is called "pharming."

more...
This has been supported by the medical establishment... When you come into the hospital your pain is assesed and you are given a pain killer... But giving a pain killer to a teenager or a child maybe a factor in later addiction... Noone has addressed that one...

[Mythsaje]

1. "Powerful painkillers vicodin and oxycontin..."

They're on opposite sides of the spectrum...vicodin is hardly a "powerful" anything.

I hate when I see stupid statements like this in a goddam news story.

On edit... well, at least it's not POT. :sarcasm:

[Richard D]

2. I've known a number of people . . .

. . . who've been seriously addicted to vicodin. One person died as an indirect result.
Don't underestimate it.

[Mythsaje]

3. People can become addicted to just about anything...

It's still not particularly powerful, especially when compared to oxycontin. I was on vicodin and percocet for several months when I had my hernia surgery and had no problem at all stopping when I decided I'd had enough.

Not to say it can't be addictive. I just don't think it should be portrayed in the same light as oxycontin.

[shanti]

6. thank you

i've also known a couple of vike freaks. they're not very pleasant to work around.

[Gelliebeans]

7. You are right on

and it makes it so much more difficult on a patient who is legitimately in chronic pain to obtain these medications even with a doctors knowledge and a prescription because pharmacists and good deed doers are interjecting their opinions as well. Kids are doing drugs like kids have done drugs since forever.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. *yawn* Oh wow, teenagers doing drugs. Shocking!

Teens will do drugs. I've taken prescription drugs recreationally on occaision since HS. I don't see how this is newsworthy. Whether they're drinking underaged or stealing some pills from their parents is not anything new. Of course more teens are going to do prescription drugs. Prescription drugs keep getting pushed more and more to the public by doctors that are just government sanctioned drug dealers half the time.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

5. Dupe-Delete

I'm a spaz