“Pharming.”
That?s the increasingly popular way for teenagers to get high, according to a new government survey.
“This is a phenomenon that has been going on for the last five years,” said Michael Gimbel, Sheppard Pratt Health System?s director of Substance Abuse Education. “We?re seeing a huge increase in teenage use of legal drugs, prescription drugs. The kids actually call it ?pharming.? ”
The annual study by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, conducted by the University of Michigan and released Thursday, showed that teens increasingly are getting high with legal drugs, such as prescription painkillers, like OxyContin and Vicodin; mood stimulants, like Ritalin; and even cough syrup.
But the study also found that fewer teens used illegal drugs or drank alcohol in the last year.
The national survey mirrors what health professionals are seeing in Maryland teenagers, Gimbel said.
“The majority of kids who are getting these prescription drugs are getting them from their friends or their parents? friends,” Gimbel said. “Parents should ask themselves: What do you have in your medicine cabinet? If you have any prescription pain medication, lock it away. If you have prescriptions that are outdated, throw them away. If you have children on these medications, monitor their use. The good news is this is an easier problem to solve than the problems of marijuana, cocaine and heroine.”
Thomas Cargiulo, the director of substance abuse services at the Howard County Health Department, said he?s seeing some of the same trends listed in the survey.
“We?re seeing an increase in use of prescription medications,” he said. “And, like the study, we?re seeing a decrease in binge drinking, a decrease in marijuana and cigarette smoking.”
The study surveyed 50,000 students in the eighth, 10th and 12th grades at more than 400 schools across the United States. It does not provide data broken down by state.
“We continue to see a very positive general decline across the country for youth in America,” said WilsonCompton, division director at the National Institute on Drug Abuse. “But we see a major issue of a whole range of prescription drugs that teenagers are abusing.”
