High schools in the most affluent areas of New Jersey share a common problem with those located in the urban and inner city.

It is not the "child left behind" because of low standardized test scores or even those classified with one of various disabilities (learning deficient, emotionally or behaviorally disturbed). The issue is pervasive and destroys not only its victim but collaterally damages their family and friends. If you have guessed substance abuse you probably have a teen, work with teens or know a teen who has fallen prey to the ailment known as addiction.

Pharming: the New High

While the topic of teen drug use is not new, the drug of choice is readily accessible and often found in parents' medicine cabinets. Prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medications have quickly made their way into the teen circuit as the new party drugs.

Pharming (using prescription and OTC medications for recreational use) has replaced traditional illicit drugs for several reasons. Teens admit to skimming pills from family and friends medicine cabinets. Several students admit to taking prescription pills from neighbors. The accessibility to these medications has contributed to the rise of their abuse and popularity of use among the adolescent population.

Additionally, awareness of prescription pharmaceuticals is achieved through marketing via print media, television, radio and the Internet. A sense of safety (albeit false) has been described by its unintended users. 

Danger Drugs

Vicodin (acetaminophen and hydrocodone), OxyContin (oxycodone), Percocet (oxycodone and acetaminophen), Darvon (propoxyphene) and codeine are abused by teenagers more than any other prescription medications, often resulting in emergency department visits which have tripled over the recent decade, according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America.

Teens describe general feelings of pleasure or sensations of well-being while under the influence of prescription pain medications.

Many prescription pain medications are highly addictive; in addition, the user will develop tolerance, where they need higher and more frequent dosing to achieve the same high.

Respiratory depression results from large doses and may even result in death after overdose. The incidence of life threatening respiratory depression is increased when taken with other prescription medications, OTC drugs or alcohol.

Stopping the Trend

The first step to remedying the drug problem is identification followed by education. As nurses we are natural educators and need to start the process in the schools; continue with the parents; and finally achieve better communication with prescribing practitioners. 

Less addicting pharmaceuticals and just plain fewer pills need to be prescribed, thereby reducing availability in communities.

The Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey (PDFNJ) and the Drug Enforcement Administration - New Jersey Division has been awarded first place honors in the National Association of Government Communicators Blue Pencil & Gold Screen awards for their "Grandma's Stash" prescription drug abuse prevention campaign.

"Grandma's Stash" was created by PDFNJ in response to the findings of the PDFNJ's Center for Prevention Research's 2008 Parent Tracking Study on Alcohol and Drug Abuse which found 44 percent of New Jersey parents knew little or nothing about the dangers of prescription drug abuse, according to the Partnership executive director Angelo M. Valente.

Continued efforts regarding substance abuse recognition and prevention are paramount to reducing the incidence and prevalence of this devastating affliction.

Melissa Cardinal is a school nurse at Hopatcong High School, Hopatcong, NJ.