Pharming Parties: Prescription Drug Abuse

Pharming Parties: Prescription Drug Abuse Amongst Teens

Conscientious parents have long been concerned about teen drug use. However, most of the focus of drug use prevention programs has centered on illegal, rather than legal drugs. After all, parents rationalize, how bad can a medication be, if I take it myself and it has been prescribed by a doctor? The increased availability of prescription drugs may mean that the drugs of people who fail to use all of their painkillers after surgery may fall into the wrong hands -- their teen's hands.

"In our quick-fix world, kids see adults, who'd never touch an illegal drug, fill prescriptions to treat everything from physical pain to anxiety. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies via TV and magazines hype drugs that promise a happier, thinner, more energetic you, all by popping a pill" (Doup 2006). "When adults and medical professionals treat medications casually…we need not be surprised that adolescents are treating them casually," said one physician (Banta, 2005, p.2)

Teens may think: "It's not heroin. it's not crack. it's a legal drug. How bad can that be?" (Doup 2006). But overdosing on opiates such as Vicodin or OxyContin, or stimulates such as Adderall, and using them in contraindicated ways can be fatal. The risks are elevated in a newly popular practice known as 'pharming parties,' where teens swap drugs in an environment where it is even easier to obtain mass quantities of their 'fix' of choice. Teens bring drugs to the parties and trade OxyContin for Adderall, or simply get high, overdosing together.

Prescription drug abuse rates are on the rise: in the last major nationwide drug abuse survey, 2.3 million children between the ages of 12 to 17 were found to have taken prescription drugs illegally in 2003. This was a 212% increase from the last survey ten years previously (Doup 2006). Mixing drugs together is especially dangerous, and the social environment of pharming parties where many drugs are available at the same time increases the risk of an overdose. Additionally, the 'party' atmosphere can also encourage teens to mix alcohol and pharmaceutical drugs. "The fact that kids often alter the ways these drugs are to be taken increases the risk even further. For example, they may crush the pills to achieve a quick high, even though many of these medications are meant to be slowly absorbed into the blood stream. That leads to dangerous changes in heart rhythm and much more" (Pharming parties, 2010, Got Therapy). According to a Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) report, about 75% of prescription-drug abusers also use illicit drugs with their prescription drug of choice (Banta 2005, p.1).

Some teens steal the drugs from their parents, some buy them on the Internet, and others buy them from dealers who steal them from hospitals. Even middle school 'pharming' parties have been reported: preteens that lack the street smarts to have regular access to illegal drugs might still be able to find a source within their suburban communities (Ferraresi 2009). "Last year I had gum surgery, and I thought, well, at least I'll get painkillers," said a frequent participant in pharming parties (Banta 2005, p.1).