Teen Painkiller to Heroin Use
A study published from the USC Institute for Addiction Science at the Keck School of Medicine of USC shines a light on an important topic. Teens that engage in recreational use of opioid prescription drugs are more likely to use heroin before they graduate from high school.
Of the nearly 3,300 students in the study, 596 reported using prescription opioids to get high during the first 3.5 years of high school. The researchers found that prescription painkiller use made a big difference in who later used heroin: 13.1% of current prescription opioid users and 10.7% of previous prescription opioid users went on to use heroin by the end of high school. Only 1.7% of youth who did not use prescription opioids to get high had later tried heroin by the end of high school.
https://news.usc.edu/158816/teen-opioid-abuse-heroin-use-high-school/
Recreational pill use has risks beyond the immediate damage they’re doing to the body of your adolescent. And it isn’t any safer if a doctor prescribes them, making it important to only accept the prescription if it is absolutely necessary. Get a non-narcotic if you can.
Share this with your teen. Chances are that they don’t ever want to use heroin, and the information in the USC report might prevent use of prescription painkillers.