Commonly Abused Prescription Drugs:
The prescription drugs that are most commonly abused by young people fall into three categories: opioids/pain relievers, depressants, and stimulants.
Opioids/Pain Relievers . The abuse of opioids/pain relievers by young people is a particular concern. According to the 2000 NHSDA, 8.4 percent of 12- to 17-year-olds reported having abused pain relievers at least once in their lifetime. NHSDA data also indicate that 12- to 17-year-olds represented approximately one-half of the 1.4 million individuals who abused opioids/pain relievers for the first time in 1999. The number of new abusers aged 12 to 17 who reported nonmedical use of opioids/pain relievers increased nearly tenfold, from 78,000 in 1985 to 722,000 in 1999. Data from the Monitoring the Future (MTF) Study indicate that in 2001, 9.9 percent of twelfth graders surveyed in the United States reported having abused other narcotics--a category that includes opioids and pain relievers and excludes heroin--at least once in their lifetime.
OxyContin is a brand name for oxycodone, a Schedule II drug. Oxycodone also is sold under the trade names Percocet, Percodan, and Tylox. It is an opium-based pain reliever that is prescribed for relief of moderate to severe pain. Law enforcement reporting indicates that OxyContin, which has heroin-like effects that last up to 12 hours, is the fastest growing threat among oxycodone products.
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), in 2001 law enforcement agencies and drug treatment providers in Boston, Detroit, Miami, and St. Louis as well as in Portland, Maine, and Billings, Montana, reported that many 13- to 17-year-olds became first-time OxyContin users, without previously having used heroin or other prescription opioids
Georgia Teenager Indicted
In December 2001 a 17-year-old Georgia resident was indicted on manslaughter and reckless conduct charges for supplying OxyContin to a 15-year-old who died from an overdose of the drug.
Source: Associated Press , 5 December 2001.
Middle school students in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , were treated at local hospitals in January 2002 after ingesting Xanax, a benzodiazepine. Twenty-eight students at a Philadelphia middle school ingested the drug after a 13-year-old stole a bottle of 100 Xanax tablets from a relative and distributed the tablets during school hours.
Source: Philadelphia Police Department.