[Epidemic of prescription drug abuse among teen]

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Epidemic of prescription drug abuse among teen

Introduction

Drug abuse among teenagers is generally considered to be the use of psychoactive or performance-enhancing drugs for nonmedical or therapeutic purposes. Drug abuse may occur with both legal (e.g., alcohol, cigarettes, prescription, and over-the-counter [OTC] medication) and illegal (e.g., cocaine, heroin, marijuana) substances. The abuse of drugs can lead to both psychological and physical addiction among youngsters, with the degree of physical addiction depending upon the properties of the drug. Due to metabolic differences between the sexes, girls are more susceptible to the effects of drugs, particularly alcohol, and are more likely to become addicted than young boys. A female's entry into drug use may begin after experiencing a traumatic event and female are more likely to use drugs to ease emotional pain from abuse, grief, and/or guilt than males. Since young females are more likely to be prescribed mood-altering substances for emotional and psychological symptoms, they are more susceptible to addiction to prescribed medications. (Thather 2010)

Although overall rates of drug use are still higher among young males than women, the gender gap has been decreasing, especially among younger age groups and with regard to specific drugs, such as tobacco and the nonmedical use of prescription drugs. Research has also begun to highlight health disparities in the consequences of drug use for females, with females demonstrating greater health consequences at the same level of behavior as males. Female alcoholics have a greater number of drinking problems and higher death rates than male alcoholics, and females are susceptible than males to brain damage, cardiac problems, and liver disease as a result of their drinking. Young females are also significantly more likely to develop dependence on nonmedical uses of psychotropic drugs, such as sedatives and tranquilizers, than males. Females may become addicted sooner than males but also seem to seek treatment sooner, causing female's drug use experiences to be more compressed than male.

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The United States faces a growing and alarming epidemic of prescription drug abuse among teenagers.

During the reporting "Epidemic: Responding to Prescription Drug Abuse in America, Gil Kerlikowske, chief of the Bureau of Narcotics Policy of the White House, said this new addiction, the source of 38 000 deaths a year, exceeds the statistical annual homicide, gun deaths, suicides and is second only to deaths in road accidents. "While registering a decrease in the use of some illegal drugs like cocaine, the National Survey on Drug Abuse reveals that nearly a third of teens, ages 12 and older who used drugs for the first time in 2009, began abusing prescription drugs, "he said. According to the DEA, which has just completed a national campaign that collected 121 tons of these drugs, annually, pharmacies 174 million they take regular prescription opioid, which soared 48% in 2009 when it increased to 257 million.

Officials of the Center for Drug Prevention and Control said the abuse has reached epidemic proportions, so he joined the national campaign from the White House in which health ...