Conversations on the Fringe

Smart, beautiful, and the life of the party, Abbey was only 20 years old. She had a permanent smile and whenever she was near, you could not help but be drawn to her. As it turns out, Abbey was an opiate addict. In March 2009, six of her friends carried her casket to her grave site, a life cut short by a prescription drug overdose. Abbey was my cousin.

The good news is that pot, alcohol, cigarettes, meth, ecstasy and LSD are being abused less nowadays by American teenagers, compared to the 1990s. However, we are not out of the water. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, which has surveyed adolescents and young adults from across the country since 1975, misuse of prescription drugs is on the increase.

Vicodin has been particularly popular recently; a study by the University of Michigan in 2005 found that nearly ten percent of 12th graders had used it in the previous year, and more than five percent said they had used OxyContin. These drugs are prescribed regularly by physicians for minor and major pain management. Both drugs are now more popular among high school seniors than ecstasy and cocaine. Ritalin and Adderall, used most often to treat attention-deficit-disorder, are also being abused at an alarming rate.

Even drugs you might not associate with “getting high,” such as Xanax or Valium (which are used to treat anxiety disorders) are prime targets for teens. Why are teens switching to prescription drugs nowadays? One answer: teenagers may feel there is less of a stigma about taking pills because they see them as medicine.

They’re also just easier to get. Many teens experiment with the prescriptions from their very own parents’ medicine cabinets. Adults often forget about the pills once they have recovered from whatever malady for which they were prescribed.

These prescription drugs are also worth serious money. The estimated street value of just one OxyContin pill is about $40. In May 2002, authorities at a high school in Mahomet, Illinois, discovered that 16 students were distributing Ritalin, OxyContin, and hydrocodone to other students. The school principal was alerted to the students’ activities after he received a phone call from a parent who believed his son may have taken OxyContin from the parent’s medicine cabinet to sell at school. According to the school superintendent, the students were selling their own medication or medication belonging to their parents or siblings. (Source: Associated Press, May 24, 2002.)

Even more shocking are the reports of “Pharm Parties” or “Skittles Parties” where young people are encouraged to bring pills to share with the other participants. The pills are allegedly dumped into a bowl or bag and the partiers grab whatever catches their fancy, often mixing drugs that, in combination with each other or with alcohol, can have a lethal effect.

Here are three important things youth workers can do to prevent kids from misusing prescription medication:

EDUCATE yourself about medications that kids are abusing. Learn about the signs and symptoms of certain drugs. Share this information with others who are in contact with the kids in your ministries such as parents, school administrators, coaches and counselors. Create an expanded network of support for the students in your community.

COMMUNICATE with teens and find out if they, or their peers, are using medications without doctors’ orders. Make sure they understand the dangers of taking any medication that has not been prescribed specifically for them. They need to understand that they could become addicted, suffer health consequences, or even die. Sadly, many kids simply do not know this. Need ideas? Here’s what we did at my church. With the help of area experts who agreed to come and speak for us, we developed a “Coping With…” series for our teens, which addressed many heavy issues that are not typically talked about in church. We invited students, parents, and outside youth workers to join us. Topics for discussion included suicide, depression, self-injury, eating disorders, addiction, and other “dark” material. We received such tremendous feedback from all the participants that this event has become a bi-annual series at our church.

CULTIVATE a sanctuary. So much of the drug-abusing culture is communal. It is a bonding experience among friends and students who are often left to fend for themselves. Using drugs may be the easiest way for some teens to connect with other students. In order to combat this problem, make your ministry a safe place for your students and their friends. Cultivate an alternative community that meets the students’ need to belong. They need to feel accepted, regardless of what they believe at that given moment. When young people seek relief and connection through maladaptive means, it is our job to face that fact and to do something about it. It requires people who are willing to enter the messiness of walking with adolescents, regardless of what it cost. It also requires us to model the love of Christ in such a way that they won’t need or settle for anything less.