Survey: Teen use of non-prescribed medication up 17 percent

By Staff Writer

A new survey reveals that non-medical prescription drug use by teenagers spiked last year.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), the rate of children between the ages of 12 and 17 that used non-prescribed pills rose 17 percent from 2008 to 2009. Most of the surveyed teenagers acquired the medications from family, friends or an unsecured medicine cabinet.

The SAMHSA poll also reported that youth drug use - including all forms of mind-altering substances - also increased last year, from 9.3 to 10 percent. The percentage of teenagers perceiving significant risk of harm from smoking marijuana fell to 49 percent, the first time in seven years that less than half of those surveyed recognized dangers in frequent marijuana use.

"[The] findings are disappointing but not surprising because eroding attitudes and perceptions of harm about drug use over the past two years have served as warning signs for what we see today," Gil Kerlikowske, director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, said.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy reports that mental health problems, including depression, developmental lags, apathy, withdrawal and other psychosocial dysfunctions, are frequently linked to substance abuse among adolescents.