A QUARTER OF WNC TEENS HAVE USED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS ILLEGALLY

Think of four teens. The likelihood is that one of the four has used
prescription drugs illegally.

According to a study released by the North Carolina Healthy Schools
Initiative, 24.6 percent of teenagers in the state's western region
have, at some point, taken prescription medication without a
prescription.

An easy reaction would be, "Well, not in my county," but Mitchell High
School Principal Jack Brooks said that is unrealistic.

"Anybody who says that there aren't drug abuses, in even a small
system like this, is sticking their head in the sand," Brooks said.
"What we've seen in the past five years is a trend away from illegal
drugs and more towards illegal use of legal prescription drugs."

And the drugs of choice seem to be painkillers.

This year, Mitchell High School had three incidents of illegal
possession of prescription drugs on campus, reported Stacie Burleson,
assistant principal. One was for Tylenol III, which contains codeine,
another was for Oxycontin, and the third was possession of an unnamed
schedule III narcotic.

Burleson said, while even one student caught using or possessing drugs
illegally is a problem, prescription drug abuse at MHS is not at
epidemic levels.

"I couldn't pick out 60 names that I think have tried it. It'd be a
stretch to name 30," she said.

Part of the reason for the shift in abuse comes from an inherent trust
in the source, Brooks said.

"I think the mentality is that if it's given to you by a doctor then
it must not be that bad," he said. "But what they're not hearing or
understanding is that these drugs are so addictive they have to be
highly controlled."

Dr. Stephen North, medical director of the school and family health
centers at Buladean and Tipton Hill, said he too sees that mindset as
a contributing factor.

"Part of the problem is that it's perceived as safer - it came from a
pharmacy as opposed to being made in some dude's trailer up in the
woods," he said.

Dr. North described the way the prescription painkillers act in the
human body. He said they act predominantly in the brain on what are
known as opioid receptors and delay nerve and brain signals.

"Think about fight-or-flight, the adrenalin response you get," he
said. "This goes directly in the opposite direction - your senses
numb, your heartbeat slows down, your respiratory functions slow, and
you experience peripheral vasodilation - your blood vessels open up
and let more blood out to the periphery and give you a warm sensation."

North said when the drugs are used properly, they provide a critical
tool in patient treatment.

"All of these are important medication that we need for people in
chronic pain, cancer patients especially," he said. "People who are
using the medicine for pain rarely become addicted. They may become
dependent and use them to block the pain, but they don't go out of
their way to get the pills."

Brooks said the potential for addiction is one thing he thinks
students underestimate the most.

"There's that sense of invincibility. Of, 'I can try this and I can
handle it,' and the sad fact is, the nature of the drugs means they
can't handle it."