Pubdate: Thu, 13 Dec 2007
Source: Pueblo Chieftain (CO)
Copyright: 2007 The Star-Journal Publishing Corp.
Contact:  http://www.chieftain.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1613
Author: John Norton, The Pueblo Chieftan

EXPERT: TEEN PHARM PARTIES ON RISE

When psychologist David Brown talks about "teenage pharming," he 
makes it clear to his audience he's not talking about kids going to 
4-H or FFA meetings.

Brown, who is on the staff at Parkview Medical Center, brings his 
message to two or three groups a month and on Wednesday spoke to 
members of the Pueblo chapter of Mental Health America about 
organized abuse of over-the-counter and prescription drugs by young people.

The message was timely following the death in October of 17-year-old 
South High School student Corey Suazo from a drug overdose linked to 
a pharmaceutical party. According to sources, the arrest warrants 
were issued recently for 19 adults and juveniles on drug-related 
charges with one arrest yet to be made.

The problem of teenagers getting into their parents' pills or 
guzzling cough medicine is nothing new but Brown told the group that 
the situation is getting a lot worse. While marijuana is still the 
most-used illegal drug - Colorado leading the nation in its use, he 
added - the growth of new users of prescription drugs is greater than 
those beginning to use marijuana.

And they aren't just sneaking a pill or two from the medicine 
cabinet, he said. Teens regularly attend parties where the admission 
is a bag of pills or other medications that include over-the-counter 
cough medicines. The drugs are dumped into a bowl and taken randomly 
by the handful, washed down with alcohol or high-caffeine drinks.

He said that 48 percent of the teens that come into Parkview's 
emergency room are victims of over-the-counter or prescription drugs.

Parents have been on the lookout for signs their kids are using 
marijuana, LSD or other street drugs "but what's not on the radar for 
parents is pills," he said. Often, those pills come from the parents' 
own medicine cabinet, unused prescriptions for Vicodin, codeine and 
other painkillers, sedatives and stimulants.

Bags have even been found with birth control pills and blood pressure 
and diabetes medications, Brown said, along with some aspirins kids 
had tried to use to gain access to a party. While it's bad enough 
that kids with a credit card can order any prescription drug from 
shady doctors with Web sites, they can walk into any store and buy 
cough medicine that can produce the same effects as LSD in large 
enough quantities. There even are Web sites that describe the various 
levels of "Robotripping," named for Robitussin, capped with the 
highest level that's potentially fatal.

Cough medicines have long been popular as a legal way to get alcohol 
but the stronger over-the-counter ones that contain dextromethorphan, 
or DXM "are the killers," he said.

Young people can hear all they want about side effects and dangers 
but most ignore that, he said, because of a belief that anything 
that's prescribed by doctors is safe to use.

Ease of access to pills is another factor and, of course, the desire 
for an altered state of consciousness. Or, many teens use drugs as a 
way to cope with the pressures of school and adolescence in general.

As many as 35 percent of teens start getting pills from their 
parents' supply and less than 8 percent have to buy them, he said, 
based on his own surveys. About 9 percent just steal them from 
friends and relatives.

Vicodin is seen most frequently, followed by OxyContin, Percodan and 
codeine. It's not unusual to find other drugs like Ritalin, used for 
hyperactivity and traditional tranquilizers such as Valium and the 
most abused prescription drug in the country, Xanax.

Prescription drug use was more prevalent among females, he added, 
with some going to the extreme of "leeching," going off in small 
groups to cut themselves and put leeches on the wounds.

Brown said that parents need to watch for signs similar to mental 
health problems like tardiness at school, falling grades and truancy. 
Empty pill or cough medicine bottles are another sign, along with 
large numbers of highlighting pens whose fumes can be sniffed like solvents.

Parents also should take a look at their own lives. "Do you take a 
pill for every ill?" he asked. Throw out old medicines, he urged, so 
they don't become a temptation.
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MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart