Students Helping Fight Prescription Drug Abuse

Posted by azdrugrehabctr on October 1, 2014 under Prescription Drugs | Comments are off for this article

One of the scariest things about the prescription drug abuse problem in our country is the number of children who have access to the deadly drugs. More and more teens are reporting illicit use of painkillers and other prescription drugs and some wonder how they are obtaining the pills. Many teens do not have to look far in order to get their hands on prescription painkillers, as they are most often found in medicine cabinets of family members or friends. One teen decided to investigate how common prescription drug use is among his peers.

Stowe’s film “Out of Reach” takes a look at classmates and how many of them are taking prescription drugs, as well as how easy it is for them to obtain the pills. “What we found out was, we’d go into the restroom and students right before a test would go into a stall, pop an Adderall, sometimes snort it, and trade more hard drugs like Oxycontin, hydrocodone, and just take them as if it was vitamin C,” he said.

While abusing prescription drugs may be openly done amongst their peers, many teens can hide the fact that they are taking the drugs from their parents and teachers. This may be because most parents are not sure what they are supposed to be watching out for when it comes to prescription drug abuse. Educating parents on what signs to look for is important when dealing with teen drug abuse. When a person is taking prescription painkillers they are oftentimes sleepy, their pupils are dilated, and they tend not to have an appetite and may exhibit weight loss.

Cyrus Stowe hopes that his documentary will not only educate parents on the reality of prescription drug abuse, but also shed some light on the secret behavior of many of his peers. While many families are dealing with the tragedy of losing a child to a prescription drug abuse problem, many more families are still willing to look the other way when it comes to talking to their children about the deadly addiction.

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