Teenage Prescription Drug Abuse-Are You Their Dealer?

I've recently been exposed to the world of drug abuse. I know what you're thinking...wake up it's been a problem for years! Well I know that, BUT I had no idea about the HUGE prescription drug problem going on in our High Schools, Middle Schools, and even Elementary Schools.

Most parents check and snoop around their kids rooms for cigarettes, pot, cocaine, crystal meth and ecstasy, but I wonder how many of you actually are checking your own medicine cabinets? Do you ever think about keeping track of how many pills you have left in your prescription bottles? What about those pain pills that you were given during your last visit to the doctor or the dentist, you know...the ones that you never finished and thought, "Oh well, I will just save it for the next time I have a migraine, feel sick or my back is hurting." We all have the secret little "left over" stash for emergency purposes. Do you even remember which bottle's you had? Would you know if any of your "stash" went missing?

Unfortunately, this is the current problem facing our kids today. No longer do they have to go out and try to locate a drug dealer or scrounge up enough money to buy the drugs. You have become their new "FREE" drug dealer. Right in the comfort of their own home, they can get high from their, loving, caring and trusting parents. That's right, you have not only become your children's drug dealer but also the neighborhood supplier.

More and more teenagers are taking these drugs in large quantities and then mixing it with alcohol (yes, probably also supplied by you). They will then sell their extra pills to their friends, WOW, what incredibly smart little entrepreneurs you've raised! You have now started getting the whole neighborhood high, with the excuse of, "I didn't know, I couldn't remember how many pills I had left in the bottle" or "I thought I lost the bottle so I had it refilled". I will give you two words to think about "HEATH LEDGER".

These kids do not discriminate...if you have prescription pills of any kind, Vicodin, Darvocet Loritab, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety pills, pills for depression, hyper-activity pills...you name it they'll take it! Everyone seems to have a pill for every problem, which means easy access for our children. WAKE UP PARENTS!! We need to lock up ALL of our medication and keep a list of how many pills are in each bottle.

Open your eyes and see that we may be giving our children a prescription for a lifetime of abuse, anger, self-loathing, misery, and even death...why... because WE JUST DIDN'T REALIZE!