Teen prescription drug abuse on the rise, study finds
Jessica Fraser is the author in the article on “The Rise of Prescription Drug Abuse among Teens.” The article was written on 30th December, 2006. The article is located on the Natural News Website at the following link: http://www.naturalnews.com/021369_prescription_drug_abuse_drugs.html.
The purpose of the article is to highlight the problem of prescription drug abuse among teenagers in American society. The author recognizes the complexities of the issue considering that drugs prescription is not considered illegal in the country. In her argument, Fraser uses the results from the study by the Michigan University on the issue. From the study, it was established that the use of illegal drugs among teenagers has decreased significantly with a 23 percent drop since 2001. However, the teenagers have substituted the use of these drugs with prescription abuse.
The author highlights the severity of the issue with the stating that one in ten seniors in high school abuses Vicodin, a prescription painkiller. In addition, the abuse of Oxycontin was also recorded with one in twenty teenagers using the drug without prescription. The author cites a study by Drug-Free America that states that teenagers between 12 and 17 abuse prescription drugs on purpose. This includes the abuse of common medication like cough syrup.
The article suggests that parents have a crucial role in the fight against prescription abuse. This will involve ensuring that prescription drugs that are not in use are discarded or kept from the teenagers access. Therefore, the battle against this social problem begins from the home environment.
The article was helpful considering that I was not aware of the rampant abuse of prescription drugs in the society. The article presented me with facts about prescription abuse among U.S. teenagers. I would recommend parents to read this article for them to be aware of the addiction and make certain that teenagers are out of this danger.
