About 44% of high school students who consume prescription drugs have multiple sources of medication

About 11% of high school students reported using prescription drugs in the last year and 44% of them used multiple sources of supply, according to two studies conducted by the University. from Michigan.

More than 70% of teens who bought prescription drugs from multiple sources had a substance use disorder – involving prescription drugs, other drugs, and drug use. alcohol – during the previous year.

The national average for a substance use disorder among all teens is 5%, said lead author Sean Esteban McCabe, a professor at the U-M School of Nursing.

Both studies, published in the July issue of Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry of the Child and the Adolescent, found that adolescents using multiple sources for prescription drugs were at high risk of other substance use and substance use disorders, among other worrying trends.

One study identified abuse sources for three clbades of prescription medications – opioids, stimulants, and tranquilizers – as well as differences in motivations and behaviors among 18,549 high school seniors. The other study identified controlled drug sources and badociated behaviors in 103,920 adolescents aged 12 to 17 years.

A "very disturbing" conclusion is that 30% of prescription drug users have taken their own drugs, with girls being more likely than boys to do so, said McCabe, co-director of the UM Center for the Study. drugs, alcohol, Smoking and health. Boys were more likely to buy prescription drugs from friends or buy them.

The most common sources of prescription drugs among 12 to 17 year olds were to get them free from their friends and relatives, doctor prescriptions for opioids and to illegally buy stimulants and tranquilizers.

"These teens are most in need of an intervention to deal with their substance use and any other medical or mental health problem," said Ty Schepis, badociate professor at Texas State University and lead author of the One of the studies.

This is the first known study on the misuse of drugs not used by adolescents in these three clbades of prescription medications, McCabe said.

"The implications of these two studies could not be clearer," McCabe said. "Parents, public health experts and clinicians need to mobilize to address this problem.There is an urgent need for training of clinical staff to support education, screening, prevention and prevention. early intervention in clinics and schools. "