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'Legal' drug abuse growing
11-25-06|Post Tribune|By JON SEIDEL

Students illegally in possession of prescription drugs have made up three-fourths of the drug arrests at Portage High School so far this year.

Cpl. Troy Williams, the Portage Police officer assigned to the school, said it's a trend he didn't see last year, his first at the school.

And although Portage's numbers might be more drastic than the ones elsewhere, Valparaiso High School student-assistance coordinator Jerry Wetmore-Kirby said she has prescription drugs in her school, too.

"These kids are taking six Vicodin or they're taking other drugs in large quantities," Wetmore-Kirby said. "That's very dangerous."

Some of the abuse is simply a misdirected attempt to treat medical symptoms after a drug has helped a friend with similar ones, Williams said.

But most of the abuse, Williams said, is not that innocent.

"The majority has been, 'Can I get some type of high,' or, 'Could I take this and it will make me feel more relaxed,' " Williams said.

It's very easy for students to get their hands on the drugs, Williams said.

"Prescriptions are in just about every household in America," Williams said. "Their accessibility is easily gained."

Over-the-counter prescription drugs have not been vilified for students as much street drugs like marijuana, heroin and cocaine.

"They've been taught since grade school that drugs are bad, just say no," Williams said. "I think a lot of kids don't see that with the prescription drugs."

Wetmore-Kirby said Valparaiso High School's drug troubles cannot be narrowed to one drug in particular.

However, she said, prescription drugs have made themselves known on campus and off.

In March, for example, Wetmore-Kirby said, five Valparaiso High School students were sent to Porter hospital after overdosing on prescription drugs at a party.

"They overdosed on a prescription drug that was provided to them by another student," she said.

The event did not draw news coverage, Wetmore-Kirby said, which might be part of the problem.

"This stuff is going on and it's not hitting the papers, so we don't think there's a big problem," Wetmore-Kirby said.

Despite the troubles in schools like Valparaiso and Portage, Gary school spokeswoman Sarita Stevens said her district's troubles are created by the more traditional illegal drugs.

Health programs that provide many of the city's low-income families with prescription drugs keep very strict pill counts, making it harder to abuse the drugs.

"Our kids don't have access," Stevens said.

Contact Jon Seidel at 881-3148 or jseidel@post-trib.com

 

nornerator

I don't agree with minors using mind-altering substances, but I'd much rather them use marijuana than Rx.

I hope you parents and government agencies are happy that you have "vilified" pot so much that your children think its safer to take Rx. Nobody dies off pot, yet these kids are overdosing all the time on Rx. There are 100,000 deaths a year from Rx drugs and not a single one from Marijuana.

Teenagers are GOING to use mind-altering substances, the least we can do is accurately inform them of the true medical effects of all drugs, instead of trying to make things seem inherently evil.