Illicit drugs plateau, painkillers increase...

Illicit drug use among students plateaus, but painkiller increase a concern
20/11/2007

One in five teenagers who took part in the survey admitted to having used painkillers that they didn't have a prescription for, and 76 per cent of them said they got the drugs at home.

Those statistics are contained in the latest iteration of the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey, which for the past 30 years has been polling Ontario teenagers on drug use at two-year intervals. The survey is a project of the University of Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

Dr. Louis Gliksman, chief of research at the centre, said parents may not realize painkillers are going missing, especially those who don't dispose of old prescription drugs once they are finished taking them.

"I suspect that they are not aware of it and that's why I'm saying: Be vigilant," Gliksman said Tuesday following the release of the latest survey results.

"The more you have in your cabinet, the less likely you're going to know what's disappearing."

A total of 6,323 students in Grades 7 through 12 filled in the 2007 survey, which is administered by the Institute for Social Research at York University in Toronto for the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

A sample size that large expected to represent the behaviour of the approximately one million Ontario high-school students.

The survey found that only 12 per cent of students admitted to smoking in 2007 - the lowest number on record. That's down from 14 per cent in 2005.

Illicit drug use was on the decline leading up to the 2005 survey, dropping about nine per cent for all drugs other than cannabis. But that has since plateaued, the survey found.

There were exceptions: Use of crack cocaine, methamphetamine (speed) and crystal methamphetamine (crystal meth) continued to decline. In fact, few students use these drugs, Gliksman said.

"Rates (of use) of both of these drugs are very, very low," he said.

But there was a hint of an increase in the use of a dangerously addictive painkiller, OxyContin - sometimes called hillbilly heroin.

The survey found that 21 per cent of Ontario students said they'd used opioid pain relievers such as Tylenol 3, Percocet and OxyContin without a prescription. And OxyContin use showed a small but significant increase from the previous survey; two per cent of students reported using it in 2007, compared to one per cent in 2005.

The survey didn't ask if the teens who said yes were taking the drugs frequently, occasionally or rarely. And it didn't ask why the drugs were used, so the researchers cannot discount the possibility that the occasional parent gave one or some of their prescription painkillers to their child for treatment of pain.

But Gliksman said he believes it's more likely teens were taking the drugs to get high.

"I would suspect ... that they are not taking them to self-medicate," he said.

The decline in drugs didn't include cannabis; 26 per cent of students reported using the drug at least once in the past year in the latest survey.

But alcohol remains the drug of choice for students, the survey revealed, with 61 per cent reporting they drink alcohol.

Binge drinking - defined as the consumption of at least five drinks on the same occasion - remains a common occurrence among students, with 26 per cent saying they are likely to binge drink.

 

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I am really not looking forward to the day I have to deal with these issues. I think it may be not that far off now, since my son is now in grade 6.

I couldn't even imagine as a teenager taking any of my parents prescription pills. I don't know maybe it is just me, but it seemed so much more
innocent back when I was growing up. The people that I talk to that are about the same age as me agree. The worst thing I remember was sneaking some booze here and there. A few of my friends smoked pot. At that time that was a HUGE deal. Today that is nothing lol

 

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I don't know about Canada but in the US these numbers go up and down on a regular basis, so I wouldn't make to much of the trends. The US reports would also consider non-prescription use of painkillers to be illicit drug use and it is a growing problem here too. Unforunately those narcotic pills are more addictive than pot although they do less physical damage to growing youth than alcohol or stimulants.

I used to take my father's valium and donnatal all the time as a teenager. I would even go through people's medicine cabnits when I visited their houses.

As recovering addict, someone who comes from a family of addicts, and someone who became an addict at a young age (I was a regular meth user at 16), I am definitely concerned about how to deal with this issue with my daughter. I want her to understand that she has a higher than usual risk of becoming addicted and to understand the physical repercussions of using drugs when her mind and body are still developing. I hope she won't try drugs or alcohol until she at least turns 18.

 

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Wow....if you don't mind me getting to personal, so your parents were addicts?
Is that why you started from watching them? What is the first thing you tried?
Then did it just esculate from there onto different things?

 

I used to take my parents painkillers when I was in highschool, but only occasionally.

 

What made you even think of doing that? How many do you have to take to do anything? Does it make you feel high???

I have no clue, I mean I have taken them over the yrs for actual pain.
I found even when I did sometimes they didn't even help do much of anything (recommended dosage)

 

Well, friends told me it made you all loopy, so I tried it. You usually need to take 2-3 to feel anything from them.

 

Hydrocodone makes me hyper. It's almost like I am on speed. But for most people, it makes them very tired or even sleepy. I had a prescription when I was 18 or so (when I got my wisdom teeth taken out). My parents hid it from me

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Right now I have prescription cocaine.

 

Well I maybe smoke pot a few times a yr (I know HAHAHA) I really don't have the desire and really could care less if I ever did it again. It is just good for a laugh on rare occassion. As far as drinking I have unopened bottles in my cabinet from yrs ago! I usually get them as gifts at Christmas.
I could care less about cracking them open either. I used to drink when I moved out on my own at when I was 17. I drank over the yrs but as I got older really could care less about that anymore either. I really hate the feeling the next day! It isn't worth it to me.

I rarely have ever been prescribed prescription drugs, no need for them. The only thing I go a little overboard sometimes with is Tylenol or Advil lol

 

I've :m: I think 3 times in my life. I probably won't do it again because every time I tried, I either didn't feel a thing or I over done it and began to feel uncomfortable, physically. I'll stick with my prescription cocaine

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Alcohol is something I can't stand anymore. I enjoy getting buzzed and occasionally drunk when time in my life permits, but it's a pain in my ass to even drink alochol. It takes like shit and I have an automatic reaction to alcohol to gag.

 

LOL well considering I spend most of the time Coughing!! I don't think I am getting the full effect either.

 

I never had a problem with coughing since I use to be a pack-a-day smoker.

 

I never smoked either, unless you count the few cigarettes I tried to smoke when I was like 13 to be cool lol

Did you quit? or still smoke?

 

I quit 5 months ago and 1 week ago (or maybe 2 weeks). I did it cold turkey. There's thread somewhere in About Members where I talk about it... it's called "I quit!" by leopold when he decided to quit. Both of us quit cold turkey. He quit because he was diagnosed with something as a result of smoking. I quit because I was tired of the damned nagging in my head telling me to smoke every 20 minutes or so. I felt like a slave.

 

:bravo: good for you!! I know a lot of ppl that have tried so many times and never been successful.

It is not only good for your health but your wallet too!!

 

No my parents weren't but I have 3 older brothers who probably fit that category at one point or another in their lives and are still daily pot smokers. Actually, my father may have been addicted to valium--he took an awful lot of the stuff--but since it was prescribed by a doctor it's hard to say. Some of the members of older generations were apparently alcoholics.

Growing up I saw that my brothers entire lives revolved around getting high and I always told myself that I wouldn't get involved with drugs but then the friends I made in Jr. High all turned out to be into drugs too (funny that). I guess the first recreational drug I used was nitrous oxide--one of my brothers gave it to me and told me that it was safe & not something people got addicted too. Technically he was right but once I realized how much I enjoyed getting high I tried pretty much anything I could get my hands on.

 

How the hell do you have prescription cocaine? In the US, it's only used for certain types of surgery--people don't actually get prescriptions for it.

 

It's not real cocaine. 99% of the population cannot even obtain cocaine legally in the US. I'd be too scared to try the real stuff.

 

Do you still do drugs now?

 

No--it's been over 20 years since I did drugs or drank (and over 10 since I had a cigarette).