Where Opioid Use Starts

The amount of adolescents abusing prescription opioids, such as the painkillers Vicodin and OxyContin—and, to a minor degree, heroin—is increasing. In reply, mental health specialists are retooling their curing strategies to meet the distinctive needs of teens. Until lately, most opioid treatment agendas were designed for older clients, and little was understood about teenage users.

Prescription narcotics are the next most commonly abused drug in North America, second only to marijuana. Statistics show that by grade 12, more than thirteen percent of high school students in the U.S. have tried prescription opioids, up from a little more than 1 percent in 1989, according to nationwide studies. From 1995 to 2002, the rate of heroin use among 13- to 18-year-olds increased from 0.1 to 0.4 percent.

Youth opioid users, most often fair males, characteristically start using drugs, including nicotine and alcohol, as early as age 10. Compared with marijuana and alcohol consumers, they are more likely to be victims of bodily, emotional and sexual abuse. They normally end up in treatment, serious consideration of either of their parents or the general public.

Adolescents start consuming prescription opioids because they aren’t familiar with the risks. The drugs, therefore, are readily obtainable, as doctors prescribe them more regularly than in past years. A big factor is how easy these young people can get them. Kids can even steal their parents’ or grandparents’ painkillers, and then pass the drugs on to other adolescents. They get addicted in the shortest time.

More teens are using heroin, because the drug is more inexpensive than in past years. It’s also much more uncontaminated, which means users can breathe it to get high, instead of having to inject it. The general purity of heroin has increased from about 7 percent to 70 percent. To many doctors, they believe it’s a much different drug than the past decades.