..I would never do those." (Meadows, 2001) So long as the drugs are available by prescription, it is easy to think that abusing these drugs is okay, especially in the minds of impressionable teens. Did you know that OxyContin is actually a form of morphine, like heroin, and is often just as additive, especially when it is crushed and injected intravenously or snorted into the nostrils, as it is by many addicts whose tolerance has escalated after repeated use of the drug? (Meadows, 2001) Do you have a friend with ADHD, or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder? Ritalin (methylphenidate) abuse amongst high school students and even middle school students is on the rise! The presence of younger and younger addicts, who can't even drive, but can buy this drug, which produces effects more potent than caffeine and if improperly used can small cause heart problems and damage the blood vessels in the lungs and retina of the eye if it is injected, demonstrates the need to give prescription...

Teens need to know the difference between sanctioned use and abuse and when it comes to prescription drugs, the lines can seem blurry. (Meadows, 2001)
Your best friend needs Ritalin to concentrate. Your grandmother takes Percoset to treat her nerve pain. But that doesn't mean that you should use these drugs without proper supervision. Just because adults say it's okay to use these drugs sometimes doesn't make it okay for everyone, all of the time. It's a complex message, hard even for adults to understand in our age of over-medication, where TV commercials for anti-depressants run next to advertisements for soda and household cleansers. And that's why this message that needs to be at the forefront of drug education efforts in schools today.

Works Cited

D.A.R.E. Official organizational website. 2006. [24 Nov 2006]

http://www.dare.com/home/default.asp

Meadows, Michelle. "Prescription Drug Use and Abuse." FDA Consumer Magazine.

2001. [24 Nov 2006] http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/2001/501_drug.html

McVay, Doug. "Prescription Drugs." Drugwarfacts.com [24 Nov 2006] http://drugwarfacts.com/diversio.txt