Easy Access is Reason for Abuse

Recently, a growing number of teens have cited the easy access of drugs such as oxycontin as a reason for the growing number of abuse. They went as far as saying that it's easier to buy oxycontin compared to buying beer.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University asked: "Which is easiest for someone your age to buy: cigarettes, beer, marijuana, or prescription drugs such as Oxycontin, Percocet, Vicodin or Ritalin, without a prescription?" Nineteen percent of teenagers found it easier to purchase prescription drugs than cigarettes, beer or marijuana, compared with 13 percent a year ago. A quarter of the teens said it is easiest to buy marijuana, with 43 percent of 17-year-olds saying they could buy the drug in less than an hour.

It was also found through this study that most parents don't know where their children are at night and identified a group of "problem parents" whose actions increased the abuse of illegal and prescription drugs among 12-to-17-year-olds.

There are many factors to why this is happening but a big part of it are parents who are clueless to what is going on around them. Parents should be the first to look at this issue as well as talk to their children since everything starts at home.

"Kids think that because these are medicines that are prescribed, they are safe," she said. "The problem is that there is very little difference between the amount they take for a high and the amount that causes an overdose."