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spacer Designed for parents and other adults involved in the lives of 7- to 18-year-olds, the Family Guide Web site emphasizes the importance of family, promotes mental health, and helps prevent underage use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs.
A Family Guide to Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy & Drug FreeA Family Guide to Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy & Drug Free Who's Using Prescription Drugs for Nonmedical Reasons?A Family Guide to Keeping Youth Mentally Healthy & Drug Free
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Start Talking Before They Start Drinking
One-third of all teens do not understand that abusing prescription pain relievers can be "as dangerous—and addictive—as using street narcotics and other illicit drugs."1 In fact, 40 percent of young people wrongly believe that prescription medicines are “much safer” than illegal drugs.2
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Have you ever wondered how common it is for today's youth to use prescription-type drugs nonmedically? Prescription-type drugs do not include over-the-counter drugs and are classified in four categories: pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives. An excellent source of nonmedical use of prescription-type drug data is the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's National Household Survey on Drug Abuse (NHSDA). Some 2001 survey results are listed below:

12

percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have used prescription-type drugs nonmedically at least once in their lifetime. That's almost 3 million kids!

8

percent of 12- to 17-year-olds have used prescription-type drugs nonmedically in the past year. Females (9 percent) are more likely than males (7 percent) to report past year use.

Students in grades 10, 11, and 12 were significantly more likely than students in grade 9 to report both lifetime and current use of marijuana.

9

percent of 12- to 17-year-olds living in non-metropolitan or small metropolitan areas have used prescription-type drugs nonmedically in the past year. In contrast, 7 percent of youth in large metropolitan areas have used in the past year.

Among 12- to 25-year-olds, Whites were more likely to have used prescription-type drugs nonmedically in the past year than Hispanics, Blacks, or Asians (Whites, 12 percent; Hispanics, 8 percent; Blacks, 6 percent; Asians, 5 percent).

Read more about this topic by visiting the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's Nonmedical Use of Prescription—Type Drugs among Youths and Young Adults.

If you would like to learn more about NHSDA, including the uses and limitations of the data, please visit the first Web site listed below.

Sources

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Office of Applied Studies: 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse, released September 2002.

Nonmedical Use of Prescription—Type Drugs among Youths and Young Adults, report released January, 2003.

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Created on 4/1/03