A few nights ago, there was an episode of “TeenTalk” on a local television channel. The moderator was surrounded by eight teenagers whose ages ranged from 14 – 18 years and who had recently completed drug rehabilitation. At first, I thought it was a little “hokey” and planned to flip to another channel; however, as the show progressed, I began to listen to their stories of drug use and experimentation.

One by one, they related how they each began their journey into drug dependency. The start of this journey was in the fifth grade (middle school) and ended (for these panelists) in the sophomore or junior year of high school. The reason the teens cited most for drug use and experimentation was to help them cope with their current realities.

When discussing the ease of obtaining opiates, teen after teen described how they deceived, lied, stole, or sold other’s possessions to feed their drug dependency habit. I saw that these teenagers capitalized on the opportunity of drug availability – through friends, family or deceptive practices, for example, using a fake MRI to fool a physician into prescribing pain killers. One teen who was addicted to oxycodone told of how he stole his grandmother’s medication used to treat her cancer pain. Another teen told of raiding his parent’s medicine cabinet looking for Xanax, Valium or pain killers, while another teen spoke of a sports injury that initiated his drug addiction. 

Of all the drugs discussed, marijuana was considered the “gateway” drug. Once the “high” of marijuana no longer satisfied the “high” the same way it did when first used, escalating the “high” became a priority. The need to escalate the “high” led the kids to try other medications such as opiates (oxycodone, roxicodone, hydrocodone) and bezodiazepines (diazepam and alprazolam) in various delivery methods including intranasally, intravenously or orally. There was no shortage of creative talent on the panel.

As the show wrapped up, I learned that it is up to us as adults to help usher our children into puberty and again into adulthood. We must show them how to cope with life’s pressures and responsibilities as they get older. Listening to how they perceive reality and guiding them on how to deal with their stressors validates them as individuals. I believe that this validation is an important piece in the puzzle of keeping our kids free from drug dependency, or worse, drug overdose and death. And as pharmacists, we must educate our patients on the proper use and storage of medications – to minimize the opportunity of drug availability.

I know this is a sensitive topic for some, and I hope that by sharing the show’s “take home message”, I impacted someone’s life to pay attention to their child in a way that was not done before.

Until next week, stay well.

Dion