MEANT FOR HEALING, NOT FOR HIGH

Study Reveals Rise in Non-Medical Use of Prescriptions

One in five.

A study published this month in the Archives of Pediatrics and
Adolescent Medicine reports just over 20 percent of college students
take prescription drugs for non-medical purposes.

And while alcohol continues to be the mainstay of substance abuse
among N.C. State students and college kids in general, according to
Chris Austin, assistance director of health promotion and substance
abuse prevention, the prevalence of other drugs is continuing to grow.

In a spring 2006 study, almost one-third of NCSU students reported
having used some form of marijuana within 30 days of the survey, while
roughly six percent took amphetamines, such as diet pills, speed or
methamphetamine. Ten percent admitted use of some other drug.

"I'm aware that some students do abuse prescription drugs,"Austin
said. "These numbers would be more reflective in the 'amphetamine
data' and 'other drugs' data."

The study of non-medical prescription drug use focused on four
categories, which included opioids, stimulants, sleeping aids and
sedative or anxiety medications, and concluded, "non-medical users of
prescription drugs are at heightened risk for drug abuse, whereas
medical users without a history of nonmedical use are generally not at
increased risk."

Marianne White, Student Health pharmacy manager, said she believes
most students at the University fall in the latter category and are
not abusing the medications they have filled at the pharmacy.

"I'm sure that it's out there, but we don't see it on a daily basis,"
she said. "We try to keep things in check here. Every once in a blue
moon, we might see something unusual."

White said she estimates that the prescription drugs highlighted in
the study constitute a very small portion of the prescriptions filled
at the Health Center, saying sedatives or anxiety drugs may constitute
5 percent and sleep medications 1 percent of the prescription volume
filled.

"We carry them, but we don't dispense them a whole lot," White said.
"We fill a lot of antibiotics, like cold medications, especially with
the flu going around."

The exception from the list, she said, is stimulants, like attention
deficit drug Ritalin, which the University pharmacists fill "quite a
bit of."

Austin concurred about the non-medical use of such drug
varieties.

"This use probably spikes closer to exam times as some students will
use prescription drugs like Ritalin as a perceived aid in helping them
study," he said. "People will abuse prescription drugs just as they
would illegal drugs -- to help them change the way they feel or to
give them some perceived benefit."

But Austin said prescription abuse is not among the most common
substances abused.

"Prescription drug abuse is a problem among some of the students --
but a vast, vast minority," he said. "Whether it is growing as a
problem -- I'm not sure at this particular point in time."

White agreed its difficult to keep strict tabs on students'
acquisition and use of prescriptions.

"We aren't the only pharmacy around," she said. "Things can be
happening that we don't know about."

And she said there isn't a cure-all for the issue.

"If we had the answers to those questions, we would be in better shape
as a society," White said. "But unfortunately, we don't."

Another survey of health issues, including substance abuse, will come
out this spring, according to Austin.

And for its part, White said, the Drug Information Association began
requiring pharmacies to send lists of every controlled substance
dispensed three months ago, which is "a good tool that's been put into
place" to monitor drug abuse.