US Teenagers abuse prescription drugs, OTC medications to get high
18 percent of teenagers abused Vicodin and 10 percent OxyContin – both are prescription painkillers. 10 percent tried the prescription stimulants Ritalin or Adderall without a doctor’s prescription. 9 percent of the teens abused OTC cough medications containing the active component dextromethorphan solely to get high.
Um, so why is so much OxyContin and Ritalin making it onto the black market? Must have fallen off the back of a truck or something.
Taking cough medicine to get high has been around since at least the 60’s, as is taking prescription drugs – back then it was amphetamines and barbituates – without a prescription. These drug alerts pop up every few years in the mainstream media as they “discover” a new menace that never went away in the first place.