This is such a huge problem and not a single asshole politician seems to be doing anything about it.
Study: 10 percent of teens in the ER abuse prescription drugs
Approximately one in 10 young teenagers receiving emergency medical treatment admitted to abusing prescription painkillers and sedatives like Oxycontin and Valium within the last year, according to new research from the University of Michigan released this week. The findings come just two months after a study in the journal The Lancet declared painkiller addictions the worst drug epidemic in U.S. history.
In a survey of more than 2,100 teenagers between the ages of 14 and 20 years old who visited the emergency room at the University of Michigan Medical Center, 10.4 percent admitted to having abused prescription painkillers or sedatives within the last year — and most didn’t have any prescriptions for the drugs on their medical records, the researchers said.
Among the 8.7 percent of teens who reported abusing a prescription opioid like Oxycontin, methadone or hydrocodone, only about 15 percent had a prescription for the painkillers; among the 5.4 percent of teenagers who admitted to abusing a sedative like Ativan, Xanax or Valium just 12 percent had a prescription.
Photo: Toby Talbot/AP
