We’re a fairly healthy family.   I mean, our kids have the regular complement of ear infections, flu, strep, allergies and injuries, but besides that, we don’t have too many other things going on.  Nevertheless, our medicine cabinet looks like it belongs in a pharmacy; between the five of us, we have so many bottles of so many things, it’s hard to keep track of sometimes. 

I don’t think we have anything anyone can get high on.  But the stats on kids who are doing just that with medicines they find at home are alarming.  This is from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America:

• Every day, 2,500 teenagers use a prescription drug to get high for the first time.
• 12 to 17 year olds abuse prescription drugs more than they abuse ecstasy, crack/cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine combined
• 60% of teens who have abused prescription painkillers did so before age 15
• There are as many new abusers age 12 to 17 of prescription drugs as there are of marijuana

Since we live in an area with a serious meth problem, that second statistic is particularly troubling.  And since one of my children is a teen under 15, that third stat doesn’t thrill me, either.

PDA has a 3-step method for reducing teen prescription abuse, and like so many things, it’s mostly common sense.  It begins with reducing the opportunity by simply paying attention to how many pills you have left and how often you have to refill your prescriptions. 

This may feel like you’re suspecting your child of something needlessly, but it’s just common sense–an ounce prevention worth a pound of cure.  If a teen is even tempted–and even the best kids face temptation–knowing that you’ve got the meds counted will often be enough to stop the temptation in its tracks.

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