Generation 'Rx'
When one thinks of teens and drugs, illegal substances such as marijuana and cocaine immediately come to mind. However, the real culprits aren't the drug pushers in the school yards; it's the medicine cabinets in their own homes. A national study has revealed that today's teens are more likely to have abused a prescription painkiller to get high than they are to have experimented with a variety of illegal drugs; 'Generation Rx' has arrived. Although this fact is initially surprising, when one reviews the reasons why teens turn to marijuana, one can easily see why prescription drugs have become even more popular.
The reasons teens use marijuana, repeated below, are even truer for prescription drugs.
Parents don't discuss the danger of drugs with their children.
Teens are left with less adult supervision because of societal changes.
Young people have more access now than they had ever had before.
Youth are receiving the message by different sources such as magazines, song lyrics, videos, movies and symbols on clothing or other products that marijuana is cool and everybody is using it.
In recent years people were led to believe that marijuana is of less concern.
People were even led to believe that marijuana could have benefits.
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