How to recognize that your kid has an addiction

Today, adolescents are not taking as much cocaine, crack, LSD, and ecstasy as the teenagers of the 1960’s. They have discovered other ways and means to get high; painkillers and other prescription drugs are being abused at record levels. This up coming generation of adolescents has been named “Generation Rx.”

Adolescents are frequently getting caught raiding their parent’s or grandparent’s medicine cabinets in order to get high. For the first time, national studies demonstrate that today’s teens are more likely to have abused a prescription painkiller than any illegal drug.

Adolescents may get involved with prescription drugs in different ways. The experimental stage can be extremely hazardous, because kids often don’t see the relation between their actions today the consequences of their actions tomorrow.

The majority of teens have a tendency to feel indestructible and immune to the issues that others experience. Certain teens will experiment and stop, while others may continue to use occasionally without any important problem. Then there are those who develop a dependency; these are the ones that need instantaneous intervention and help learning to make better choices.

It is impossible to predict which adolescents will experiment and stop and which ones will develop important problems. Be aware of what your child is doing and who they are doing it with. The following are certain warning indicators of teenagers at risk for developing serious prescription drug dependency:  a family history of substance or alcohol abuse, depression,  low self-esteem,  feel like they don’t fit in and are not popular with the mainstream, often feel sluggish and have difficulty sleeping and aggressive and rebellious attitude toward authority figures

Prescription drug abuse is rising; the main reason is that they are so readily accessible. If your kid has one or more of the above behaviours, get help from a professional.

Certain information that you can share with your teen about prescription medications are:

• Pharmaceuticals used without a prescription or a physician’s supervision can be just as dangerous as taking illicit drugs or alcohol
• Abusing painkillers is similar to abusing heroin because their ingredients are alike (both are opiates).
• Prescription medications are strong drugs. Medications help sick individuals and are administered by a physician. When prescription medication is not taken for sickness and not administered by a professional, it becomes a regulated substance and the impact on the person can be fatal.
• Several pills look the same and adolescents may get them mixed up. This can cause various reactions in different individuals due to the body’s chemistry. It is very hazardous to take pills that are unknown.
• Mixing drugs with other substances is extremely hazardous. Certain individuals have allergic reactions to different chemicals when they are mixed together.

What can you do to help prevent adolescents or any other individual from getting involved with prescription drug abuse? The best thing to do is keep your prescription substances in a safe place: don’t put them in the medicine cabinet in your bathroom because that is the first place adolescent’s will look. If doable, lock them up in a cabinet or safe box. Talk to your adolescent and warn them of the hazards of prescription drug abuse.

Last Updated on Friday, 18 June 2010 16:40