Teenagers now say that painkillers and other prescription medications are more available to them than beer. A survey released today by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse reports that marijuana and cigarettes are still easy for teens to buy. But for the first time in the survey’s thirteen-year history, young people say that drugs not prescribed to them—often OxyContin and Vicodin—are more available than a six-pack of beer.
Those drugs can impair the judgment of young people, who are already prone to recklessness. The medications increase “the risk for accidents, sexual activities, (and) more drugs,” said Ralph Lopez, clinical associate professor of pediatrics at Weill Cornell Medical College, in USA TODAY.
Where do teenagers get these drugs? Usually from their own home medicine cabinets.