Parental input important in preventing prescription drug abuse
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In response to the Feb. 16 article, “Seven students caught on campus with prescription drugs” — wow, my first guess would be a painkiller such as Hydrocodone, Oxycotine, Oxycodone or Methadone (opioid/opiate). If this was the case, I am very concerned. Are you?
Prescription drugs are today’s choice of mood-altering substances. Pharmaceuticals are odorless, easily accessible, easy to conceal, and in many cases are highly addictive. They can also provide the prescribed an opportunity to make quick cash. When misused, they can be lethal.
Now what about potential legal consequences? Being in possession of another’s prescriptions (dangerous drug) is a felony.
As a community, we are responsible to educate each other, pay attention and supervise our kids, limit availability and opportunity for them to be misused. To provide sufficient information to our kids is the only way for them to make better choices for themselves. To regulate our own child’s prescription by assuring they are not shared or sold. When a child provides medications to another, the child responsible and his or her parents or guardians are responsible. If a negative experience occurs, such as an adverse effect leading to medical attention or death, that child and his/her parents or guardian are held responsible and possibly face negligent homicide charges. Our youth need an adult to be physically and emotionally available to them in order to ask questions. Guess what; if we are not available, our child will seek out whoever is. Most often they converse with another peer.
Did you know that between the ages of 13 to 22 the brain develops the most rapidly? If and when exposed to a mood-altering substance, the brain is forced to believe and adjust to the substance and normalize the experience. Pleasurable or painful experiences are burned permanently into the brain and rapidly recalled. It’s like the memory is a “memory replay” and the experience automatically reinforces continuation of the behavior that produced the pleasure. If a substance produced the pleasurable experience, it is repeated. Opioid/opiate create an artificial calmness, relaxation, or overall sense of wellbeing. Over time, tolerance is developed and larger amounts are taken more frequently.
After a while, the body and brain believe the “altered state” is normal, thus creating addiction or dependency. When addicted and the substance is not taken, a person will “crash” or go through withdrawal. The discomfort caused by withdrawals is extremely difficult. Often withdrawal is avoided and more opioids/opiates are needed. Out of desperation many abusers engage in drug seeking behaviors and criminal active to gain the substance.
Now add the “Peer Code of Silence.” No one wants to be considered a “nark.” No one wants to contend with “text message harassment” or “peer banishing.” Consider a peer who when high “nods off.” The behavior is often mistaken for falling asleep. Persons who abuse a large amount or abuse heavily for several days run the risk of sedation. Sedation interrupts normal brain function by slowing down respiratory function and can stop someone from breathing. When unconscious, a person cannot ask for help. Should this occur, would the peer known for abusing opioids/opiates get proper help? Please be informed that a sedated peer has less than three to five minutes to get proper medical attention. Without help, a sedated peer is subject to permanent brain damage or death. Under these circumstances, would the Peer Code of Silence be broken? I’d like to believe so.
Lisa Orr
Polson
