Prescription Drug Abuse On Rise

What is generally meant to help is hurting students across the country in rising numbers. The abuse of prescription pills has increased drastically over the years, as shown in a recent survey conducted by the Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

The survey took place between September 2005 and February of this year, and found that 15 percent of 11th graders, 9 percent of ninth graders, and 4 percent of seventh graders use prescriptions recreationally, according to the Washington Post. In California, many of these students obtain the pills through "pharming."

This process involves a random selection of pills to be stored in a bowl set out at a party. Teens simply grab at random from the bowl, taking nameless pills with the potential for harm.

Colleges, too, are a breeding ground for prescription abuse.

The stimulant Ritalin, for example, is often used as a study aid for cramming college students.

According to CBS News in 2005, a study showed that 6.9 percent of college students have abused prescription drugs, 25 percent of the students studying at competitive and stressful elite universities. The study was done by Dr. Sean McCabe, interim director of the University of Michigan Substance Abuse Research Center.

McCabe's research highlights a trend that continues today and can be seen in examining UConn's campus.

One UConn student, who chose to remain anonymous given the illegality of his actions, spoke in an interview about their prior addiction and decreasing use of prescription pills.

"I used to do them a lot more, then I stopped," the student said. "Now I do them very infrequently because I did get a little addicted to them."

The UConn student listed Vicodin and Percocet as initial pills of choice as a sophomore in high school, until trying Oxycontin.

The drugs were acquired easily, through friends who had either been prescribed the pills or knew someone that had been.

"Twenty bucks would get you enough to be really high for a few days," the student said.

However as the student's addiction progressed, they realized a change was necessary.

"I took them a lot, every few days or so," the student said, "and I realized one day I had to take so many to get high, and I said I really need to stop."

For a few days after quitting, the student said they felt "mildly depressed and anxious."

Having experienced the dependency of addiction, the student admitted that for a time the urge to abuse the medication still existed.

These symptoms are common of an addiction to pills prone to abuse on today's market.

Presently, frequently abused pills include opiates (pain relievers), central nervous system (CNS) depressants (sedatives), and stimulants, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). Notable opiates such as oxycodone carry the risk of dependency and severe respiratory depression after prolonged use.

NIDA also reports that CNS depressants such as Valium can cause seizures after the reduction or discontinuance of using the drug. Stimulants like Ritalin have the potential to cause irregular heartbeats, cardiovascular failure and lethal seizures.

Dr. Janice Wilbur, head of UConn's substance abuse prevention HEART program, has noticed an increase in the number of students using painkillers in the last three to four years. Simply put, students are using more and more prescriptions "because they can," she said.

Wilbur also noted that the expensive nature of an addiction to oxycontin, (which is a synthetic heroin), could lead students to purchase the significantly cheaper alternative: heroin.

Wilbur cites a crackdown on alcohol in recent years as a possible explanation for the turn to prescriptions. This, coupled with the abundance of pills on campuses riddled with students who receive injuries due to sports provides for an environment supplied with the new age narcotics.

Robert McCarthy, Dean and Professor of the School of Pharmacy stressed the risks of prescription abuse.

"Someone who takes too much of a narcotic…really can kill themselves," he said in a phone interview on Monday. "[Prescription pills] are nothing you want to fool around with."

Dr. Marie Smith, clinical professor and head of the pharmacy department, agreed with McCarthy's comments in an e-mail interview.

"Prescription painkillers are prescribed for an individual…based on a doctors assessment," Smith said. "What is considered safe and effective for one person is not appropriate for another person."

Smith warned that signs of abuse include an increase in the number of pills taken to receive a high, the need to take painkillers to calm down, and using alchohol and other drugs in conjunction with prescriptions.

McCarthy distinguished the two different types of addiction that can result as physical and mental. Only in terminally ill patients is dependency not a concern, since the drug is necessary. Patients who are not terminally ill are weaned off of the medication gradually.

However, with growing prescription abuse among students, the frequency and quantity of dosages is in the hands of the abuser not the doctor.

McCarthy added that safeguards within the pharmaceutical system attempt to prevent misuse of prescribed pills.

Drugs of greatest abuse are titled scheduled. These scheduled pills are controlled substances, and are non-refillable.

Furthermore, McCarthy added that pharmacies are required to keep precise inventories of them. Yet despite these precautions, the pills find their way to un-prescribed users.

"There are a lot of safeguards built in." McCarthy said, "However that doesn't prevent someone from getting the medication for legitimate purposes and then diverting it."

Wilbur advises that those who have become physically or mentally dependent on prescription drugs seek help. UConn's HEART house offers aid to students looking to quit the use of prescriptions for recreation.

Wilbur said a relatively new medication is available to treat both heroin and oxycontin addiction. The medication, suboxone, is available to students that meet various standards.

Students are required to attend a weekly counseling group not associated with the HEART program, and must be screened by a psychologist before admittance into the suboxone program.

Yet, the most effective treatment of all is simply the avoidance of prescription dependency. McCarthy urges students to take precautions.

"The best thing to do is for students to understand the impact these drugs can have." he said, "[This rise that's occurred] is the latest epidemic and certainly college students are part of the group that's involved."