Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use Among Adolescents
Rural adolescents are 26% more likely than urban adolescents to have used prescription drugs nonmedically, concludes a groundbreaking study that Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine published online this month. The article, Nonmedical Prescription Drug Use in a Nationally Representative Sample of Adolescents, highlights factors thought to influence nonmedical prescription drug use ("NMPDU") and related intervention points:
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School enrollment correlates with lower likelihood of NMPDU. Increase school retention and prevent initiation of NMPDU.
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Residing in a two-parent household correlates with lower likelihood of NMPDU. Develop interventions aimed at family involvement.
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A history of at least one major depressive episode and lower health status correlates with a higher likelihood of NMPDU. Increase access to health care among rural adolescents.
- Use of other illicit drugs and alcohol strongly correlates with higher likelihood of NMPDU. Aim interventions at adolescents who have already initiated substance use.
At a time when teens are abusing prescription drugs at rates higher than any other drugs except marijuana, with NMPDU increasing 212% from 1992 to 2003 alone, this study prods us as a society to wake up, to take notice, and to intervene to curb the problem. If we do not, today’s teenagers who abuse prescription drugs in lieu of less accessible, more stigmatized street drugs become tomorrow’s prescription drug addict who leave broken lives, broken families, and broken communities in their wake.
