'Pharming' a growing fear

Seventeen-year-old Rachel Justice struggled to remain calm as she watched a friend go on a binge.They were at a party last fall, and in a few short hours he downed shots of rum, smoked pot and snorted Adderall, a controlled stimulant used to treat narcolepsy, attention-deficit disorder and hyperactivity."It was like ... Oh, my God! He was crashing," said Justice, a senior at Rangeview High School in Aurora, Colo. "I left the party, and my three friends called me in a panic. They had no clue what to do. When I came back, he was throwing up and acting strange. I had to call an ambulance. It was scary."Justice's friend survived his drug and alcohol freefall. But what he did to himself sheds light on a disturbing and growing trend: abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs, particularly by young people."We hear stories at our school about kids who will go to parties and dump prescription pills into a container and pick them out at will," said Chris Tabeling, an assistant principal at ThunderRidge High School in Highlands Ranch."They call it Chex Mix. We continue to hear scary stories of how they're not only taking prescription drugs, but they'll drink alcohol with it."The trading and selling of drugs such as Vicodin and OxyContin and over-the-counter medications is called "pharming." The practice is increasing, creating another danger for students and another concern for school officials everywhere."This is a widespread problem," said Larry Borland, director of security for Douglas County Public Schools. "Pharming keeps coming up as a major topic when you talk to security from other school districts."And it has made headlines regionally in recent weeks:-- In February, 11 students at Castle View High School in Castle Rock were suspected of taking the prescription painkiller oxycodone, a painkiller. The students were hospitalized after showing symptoms of nausea and constricted pupils. The case is under review by the Douglas County district attorney.-- Later last month, a seventh-grader at Castle Rock Middle School in Castle Rock allegedly gave three pills believed to be Vicodin, a narcotic painkiller, to another student at the nearby high school, officials said. That case, too, is under review by the DA.-- And just last week, two girls and a boy from Carmody Middle School in Lakewood were charged after police and school officials found four tablets of Dilaudid, prosecutors in Jefferson County said.The federal government reports that overall youth drug use is down. But prescription-drug abuse is a "huge and growing problem," said Jane Maxwell, a researcher with the School of Social Work at the University of Texas and an expert on substance-abuse trends.The problem is so serious the White House recently launched a national media campaign to educate parents. In his weekly radio address Saturday, President Bush called for tighter controls on Internet sales of controlled substances.Nationwide, nearly one in five teens, or 4.5 million, reports abusing prescription medications that were not prescribed to them, according to 2005 survey cited by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. More than three in five respondents say prescription pain relievers are easy to get from their parents' medicine cabinets.Teens and young adults are experimenting with painkillers and the like because they believe they are safer and not as addictive as street drugs, experts say. Yet, as they point out, the sudden death of Oscar-nominated actor Heath Ledger demonstrates the dangers of prescription drugs."They go to these parties and trade off multiple medications, not knowing what they are taking," said Brian Hemstreet, of the University of Colorado at Denver School of Pharmacy. "The danger of that is it can be lethal if they're mixing these drugs with alcohol. They could pass out or overdose on it."Law-enforcement officials and educators say parents and grandparents need to pay close attention to the trend and keep prescription medication locked away from their children.X...X...XHere are some tips for parents to keep prescription drugs out of the hands of kids.-- Educate yourself and your children about the risk of misusing prescription medication.-- Keep prescription drugs locked in a secure place away from children.-- Keep close track of the quantities of pills and regularly monitor the contents of medicine cabinets.-- Discard expired and unused pills by burying them deep in the trash.(Contact April Washington of the Rocky Mountain News at www.rockymountainnews.com.)