This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 10:18 am and is filed under Drug Related News, Oxycontin Addiction, Uncategorized, Xanax Addiction. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Summer House
Your Source for Addiction and Recovery News
Detective: “Pharm” Parties on the Rise
Fox News — A warning from the Colorado Springs Police Department. Detectives with Metro Vice Narcotics said more and more teens are throwing "pharm parties," or get-togethers where young adults abuse prescription drugs.
Detectives said most teens get the medications from their parents and grandparents medicine cabinets. They said from there, the prescription drugs are then taken to parties and shared with the group.
Over the past few months, police said a handful of teenagers have overdosed on the drugs. They said some of the more popular pills include Xanax, Valium, Percoset, Oxycontin, Vikatin and Adderall to name a few.
It is called "trail mix," or a bowl filled with prescription drugs free for the taking. Detectives with the Colorado Springs Police Department said "trail mix" is the new party favor at many teen get-togethers.
"Then the kids just take turns taking a pill of their choice to see if it affects them and to see if they like it or not," an undercover officer with Metro VNI said.
Detectives with VNI said they have seen youth ages 12 to 22 abuse the drugs.
"I have had reports of pills being taken from grandma and grandpas when they go visit, aunts and uncles, friends going over to another kids house and taking from that medicine cabinet," a VNI Detective said.
The most popular pills detectives said are schedule II medications, or drugs that are highly addictive.
"Cocaine and meth are schedule II, Adderall, Oxycontin and Percosit are all schedule II as well, so they have the same abuse and addiction potential," a VNI Detective said.
Police said the internet has only made things worse by spreading information.
"They did an interview with a youth who overdosed, and the way he chose what medication to take was if it said ‘do not use with alcohol,’ that meant to him it was a great drug to use," a VNI Detective said.
They said many teens think prescription drugs are safe because they are prescribed by a doctor.
"Definitely, we have seen overdoses," a VNI Detective said.
To keep your kids safe, police said treat your pills like a gun, lock them up and put them away.
Detectives with VNI said prescription drug abuse is a nationwide problem that also affects millions of adults. If you or someone you know is abusing prescription pills log onto the website below for help.