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Prescription Drug Abuse Among High School Students
By Kyle Ramsey
Posted: 6/30/10
One in 5 U.S. high school students say they have ever taken a prescription drug without a doctor’s prescription, according to the 2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) released recently by the CDC. This is the first year the survey assessed prescription drug abuse among high school students. The YRBS has been conducted every other year since 1991.
The survey asked if they’d ever taken a prescription drug such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin, or Xanax, without a doctor’s prescription. Prescription drug abuse was most common among white students (23 percent), followed by Hispanic students (17 percent) and then black students (12 percent). Prescription drug abuse was most common among 12th grade students (26 percent) and lowest among 9th grade students (15 percent). There was no difference in prescription drug abuse by gender (20 percent for both male and female students).
“We are concerned to learn that so many high school students are taking prescription drugs that were not prescribed to them,” said Howell Wechsler, EdD, MPH, director of CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health. “Some people may falsely believe that prescription drugs are safer than illegal drugs, yet their misuse can cause serious adverse health effects, including addiction and death.”
The YRBS also asks several questions related to alcohol and drug use. The 2009 survey found that about 72 percent of high school students have used alcohol, about 37 percent have used marijuana, 6.4 percent have used cocaine, 4.1 percent have used methamphetamine, and 6.7 percent have used ecstasy. These percentages are similar to those found in the 2007 survey.
This alarming information addresses the increasing rate of social acceptability following prescription drug abuse. There is a growing rate of this behavior in popular culture, with just about every other potential role model abusing drugs with little to no consequences. For example, rapper Lil’ Wayne has been an avid marijuana smoker and it is also believed that he publically abuses cough syrup. This behavior has been linked to the death of more than one promising rapper. Right wing radio personality Rush Limbaugh is infamous for his abuse of prescription OxyContin. Rapper Eminem had a time where he was addicted to sleeping pills, Pop legend Michael Jackson died from an anesthesia cocktail; the list goes on and on with a whole series of movies to mainstream the popularity of drug abuse.
It is well known there is a trend of accidental poisoning deaths extending to the second most frequent cause of death behind motor-vehicle crashes as of 2004. Nearly all of the poisoning deaths in the United States are attributed to drugs, and most poisonings result from the abuse of prescription and illegal drugs. This trend has carried into the new millennium from as far back as the noted increase in the 1980s. The CDC recently analyzed this data and their report which summarizes their findings can be found below.
The 2009 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data are available at www.cdc.gov/yrbs.
The study on unintentional poisoning deaths can be found here.