TRAGIC MISCONCEPTION

Teens think prescription pills, even taken at random and consumed with
alcohol, are safer than street drugs -- but they could be dead wrong

Heard the one about the trail mix parties teens have?

They grab a bunch of prescription drugs out of their parents' and
grandparents' -- and friends' parents' and grandparents' -- medicine
cabinets. And then they put all the pills in a big bowl.

And then they reach in the bowl and grab some pills at random and put
them in their mouths. And then they wash them down.

Sometimes with alcohol.

Stupid, right?

Can't be true, right?

"Oh yeah, it's real," says Dr. Jefferson Jones, a Columbus family
practice doctor and addictions expert.

And it's unbelievably dangerous. Teens are taking unknown drugs and
mixing them with other unknown drugs -- not counting the medications
in their systems that they might already be taking for legitimate
health problems.

For example, taking aspirin with the prescription blood thinner
Coumadin can cause internal bleeding. Combining the allergy drug
Hismanal and the anti-fungal drug Nizoral can produce a heart attack.

And a depressant like Valium and a narcotic like OxyContin can be
deadly.

And the alcohol?

"Alcohol and barbiturates would be the worst thing you could combine,"
Jones says.

Sometimes teens call them Chex mix parties.

Ally and her friends called them "grab-and-go parties." Ally is in her
twelfth rehabilitation program, this time with Teen Challenge in
Seale, Ala. She's 17 years old.

So Easy

According to a February report from the Office of National Drug
Control Policy, one in five teens say they have abused prescription
medications not prescribed to them.

More than 60 percent of teens say prescription pain relievers are easy
to get from their parents' medicine cabinets, and more than half say
pain relievers are available everywhere.

And a third of all new abusers of prescription drugs were between the
age of 12 and 17.

OxyContin and Vicodin were their drugs of choice.

"I had a Columbus parent call me just the other day," says Teen
Challenge program manager Rebecca Morfi. "The parent told me he opened
his child's backpack and found OxyContin, Vicodin, Xanax and
Methadone. Imagine, four different powerful medications. I hear a lot
of stories like that."

Debbie Josey, an addiction counselor at the Bradley Center in
Columbus, says she has seen an increase of Columbus patients in the
15-17 age range who have gotten in trouble with prescription medicine.

"It's just so easy for them to get the medicine," she says. "Perhaps,
a parent has had some surgery and just left the medication open. They
find Web sites where they can order it off the Internet without
parents knowing about it. There are kids who trade it back and forth.
Teens also buy it on the streets."

Columbus drug counselor John Doheny still believes alcohol is the drug
most abused by teens but says he's seen an increase in adolescents who
have been abusing prescription medicine.

"I've been in this business for 25 years," he says. "For a while, it
was all about LSD, then Ecstasy. What makes prescription medicines so
attractive is the easy access. A kid can find Vicodin, OxyContin,
Lortabs in their parents' or grandparents' medicine cabinet."

Josey says teens believe medicine provides a medically safe high
because, well, it's medicine. "In therapy, I have to tell them some
horror stories," she says. "Taking these medications can cause heart
problems, liver problems. They can cause seizures."

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy report, teens
described their abuse of prescription drugs as "responsible,"
"controlled" or "safe," believing that prescription medications are
always more safe than street drugs. And prescription drugs lack the
smell of marijuana or alcohol.

Other teens said they used prescription medicine not to get a high,
but to feel less anxiety, to sleep better, or to be more alert.

Escaping Reality

Ally -- not her real name -- suffered from manic depression,
responding to pressure by cutting herself. She was also diagnosed with
attention deficit hyperactive disorder.

Growing up, she took Seroquel for the anxiety attacks and Adderall for
the ADHD.

She says Adderall was popular at her school.

"It really helps you focus," she says. "Other students would buy them
from those with ADHD to take during tests." Especially, the state's
comprehensive assessment test.

Ally was on the swim team. "A lot of athletes take them. About all of
the players on our softball team did."

It was difficult for her to give up any of her supply.

"A day without Adderall, I'd be shaking real bad and have a headache,"
she says.

When she was 13, she was raped after being given a date rape drug, she
says.

"I didn't like feeling reality," she says. "I didn't like being in
reality."

Her mother was taking hydrocodone for her back and her father was
taking muscle relaxers for his knees. So Ally started taking their
drugs, too.

"If I was supposed to take two pills, I'd take five," she
says.

She started seeing men who were twice and even three times her age.
Last year, she ran away from home and was later arrested on charges of
trespassing, trauma, breaking and entering, and possession of drugs.
She missed her court date.

Low Tide

Renee, who like Ally is 17 years old and in rehabilitation at Teen
Challenge, says she grew up in a good home. But she also says her
grandfather abused her when she was little and her brother always
talked down to her. Her self esteem was at low tide. In ninth grade,
she started stealing her brother's Adderall and would take it while
smoking or drinking. She says the ADHD drugs helped her and her
friends focus on work. "My mind was racing so fast, my body couldn't
keep up with my brain," she says. "I could write a paper in 20 or 30
minutes but I wouldn't even know what I wrote." She says she went to
wild parties where drugs were mixed and left in the open for students
to pick and choose. Parents were often in another part of the house
and oblivious to what was going on. "Everybody was doing something,"
she says. Renee made a decision. "I decided I'd be the best drug
addict I could be," she says. "I'd live up to people's
expectations."