TEENS RAID MEDICINE CABINETS FOR 'PHARMING PARTIES'

In so many ways it sounds like any other teenage party.

Kids gathered in an abandoned Florida warehouse where strobe lights
flashed and liquor flowed. But then from pockets and purses, the
pills appeared.

Vicodin. OxyContin. Xanax. All legal drugs destined for illegal use.

Shannon Johnson, 17, a middle-school dropout, was part of the scene.
He popped four or five Xanax, washed them down with vodka and was
ready to party.

Not so long ago, kids raided their parents' liquor cabinet when they
wanted a quick high.

Today, it's the medicine cabinet.

They're stocking up for "pharming parties," get-togethers sans
parents where teens barter legal drugs and get high.

"It's better when you're with other people," says Shannon, a slender
youth, lost in a pair of baggy jeans and oversize shirt. "I don't
like doing this by myself."

There's nothing new about kids abusing prescription drugs. But
pharming parties are a new social twist that contribute to the
growing problem of prescription drug abuse, which has worked its way
into pop culture via message boards, song lyrics and even T-shirts.

The number of users has mushroomed even as use of illegal drugs, such
as heroin and marijuana, has decreased, according to a report by
Columbia University's National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse.

The center says that about 2.3 million kids, 12 to 17, took
prescription drugs illegally in the past year, based on 2003 figures.
That's a whopping 212 percent increase from 1992.

Shannon tumbled into the drug world at 10 with his first puff of
marijuana. He's tried a cornucopia of drugs since, including Xanax
from the family medicine cabinet, he says. But the kids who snag the
family's pills share no cookie-cutter look.

'No specific group'

"There's no specific group you can pinpoint," says Doris Carroll,
community coordinator of the Palm Beach County (Fla.) Substance Abuse
Coalition. "It's not just dropouts. It's not just popular kids. It's
not just football players."

Much of the problem is linked to easy access, she says.

Indeed, some kids come by the drugs legally. Maybe they're taking
Ritalin for attention deficit disorder or painkillers after losing
their wisdom teeth or breaking a bone.

Others pillage medicine cabinets for forgotten pills. Some buy from
kids. For others, drugs are a click away on the Internet.

"Kids think, 'It's not heroin. It's not crack. It's a legal drug. How
bad can that be?'" says Barbara Zohlman, executive director of
Miami-Dade's DFYIT (Drug Free Youth In Town), a school-based
drug-prevention program.

In our quick-fix world, kids see adults, who'd never touch an illegal
drug, fill prescriptions to treat everything from physical pain to
anxiety. Meanwhile, pharmaceutical companies through TV and magazines
hype drugs that promise a happier, thinner, more energetic you, all
by popping a pill.

Between 1992 and 2002, while the U.S. population grew 13 percent, the
number of prescriptions filled for controlled drugs -- those with an
abuse risk, such as morphine -- increased by 154 percent, according
to the study.

"We're a society of pill takers," Zohlman says. "We look at something
to make us feel better rather than looking inside to make ourselves
feel better."

Shannon slumps in a chair at the Starting Place, a treatment facility
in Hollywood, Fla., where he's spending three months trying to shake
his habit. Beside him sits Kyle Kahler, a fast-talking, energetic
16-year-old who squirms in his chair.

School dropouts at 14, they're both pharming party veterans. And addicts.

Kids like Shannon and Kyle can easily get addicted to painkillers,
such as OxyContin or anti-anxiety medicines such as Xanax. But even
if their drug use doesn't land them in treatment, it can put them in
the hospital.

When properly prescribed and taken as directed, opioids such as
OxyContin safely relieve pain. Depressants, including Xanax, ease
anxiety. And stimulants such as Ritalin increase attention and energy.

Health risk

But taking such powerful drugs without supervision or mixing them
with others, including alcohol, is a recipe for disaster. They can
make breathing difficult or cause a rapid drop or increase in heart
rate. They can impair senses so that everyday activities, such as
driving a car, are hazardous.

In addition, kids up the danger factor by taking pills in unsafe
ways. OxyContin, for instance, is supposed to be released into the
bloodstream over several hours for long-term pain relief. But kids
crush the pills for a quicker, and potentially more harmful, rush.

About 75 percent of prescription drug abusers also take other drugs
or drink, according to the Columbia University report. Shannon and
Kyle are no exception, routinely mixing legal pharmaceuticals with
illegal drugs.

"You feel like you're on some kind of truth serum," says Kyle, who
started smoking marijuana at 10 before moving on to prescription
drugs as a teenager. "You have no inhibitions or fears. You feel like
you can fight the biggest guy."

Shannon took his first prescription drug illegally at 12. He was at a
party and someone offered him a Xanax. Already drunk, he took it.

He's been mixing drugs, legal and illegal, ever since.

Valium. OxyContin. Muscle relaxers. Marijuana. Cocaine. Alcohol.

Sometimes, he'll pop a pill and doesn't even know what it is. Logic
tells him that prescription drugs are safer than the street stuff.
Because if they didn't help you out, why would a doctor prescribe
them, he reasons.

He knows by combining drugs he's playing a dangerous game, but he doesn't care.

"When I get stressed out, it's a way to feel better," he says. "I
feel like Superman. Like I could do anything."

Getting the drugs is no problem. The boys buy from friends --
OxyContin $12 to $15 a pill or Xanax for $3. Valium goes for $4 to $5 a pop.

Sometimes kids trade with each other -- a couple of Valium for a more
powerful OxyContin.

At school or on the street, word of a pharming party drifts like
smoke. Maybe they'll meet at someone's house when the parents are
gone or rent a hotel room or find an abandoned warehouse.

Shannon was glad to be in the loop. When he got wind of a party, he
wanted to be there.

"You're so much happier when you're f----- up," he says. "It's all good."