The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse Report Finds Parents Play a Role in Teen's Access to Prescription Drugs and Marijuana
August 20, 2008
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse Report Finds Parents Play a Role in Teen’s Access to Prescription Drugs and Marijuana
The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse’s annual survey of American Attitudes on Substance Abuse XIII: Teens and Parents, released August 14th, found that marijuana and prescription drugs, such as painkillers OxyContin and Vicodin, are readily available to teens. The study reported an increase in the availability of marijuana to teens, with 42% of teens (about 10.6 Million) now able to get the drug in a day or less. Teens also reported prescription drugs as easier to access than beer. Over one-third of the teens in the survey say that prescription drug abusers they know gets the drugs from medicine cabinets or parents at home; another one-third say prescription drugs are available through friends or classmates. This year’s study paid particular attention to a parent’s influence in their children’s lives and the enabling role a parent may play. Twenty five percent of teens know a parent of a classmate who smokes marijuana and 10% of teens reported that this parent smokes marijuana with teenagers. Study authors urge parents to become more involved in helping their children remain drug and alcohol free during their teen years by setting a positive example themselves, monitoring their children’s weeknight activities, securing prescription drugs in the home and becoming more active in trying to keep their children’s schools drug free.
For more information and to view the entire report, please visit http://www.casacolumbia.org/ViewProduct.aspx?PRODUCTID=13458f03-af4c-4e80-902f-b2fbab5b308f.