According to the study of “Teen drug use and attitudesâ€, it confirms that Generation Rx has arrived, as an alarming number of today’s teenagers are more likely to have abused Rx and OTC medications than a variety of illegal drugs like Ecstasy, Cocaine, Crack and Meth.
There is dramatic increase in the teenagers who are abusing prescribed drugs. This is Drug Misuse. Drug misuse means, use of any drug (legal or illegal) for a medical or recreational purpose when other alternatives are available, practical or warranted, or when drug use endangers either the user or others with whom he or she may interact.
Nearly one in five teens (19 percent or 4.5 million) report abusing prescription medications to get high and one in 10 (10 percent or 2.4 million) report abusing cough medicine to get high.
Based on the Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) survey: