Did you know: The Drug Enforcement Agency has found that prescription drugs are the fastest growing drug trend in America today. Is your teen in danger of becoming grouped in that statistic?

Pharma Parties: A Definition

There’s no doubt that teenagers are easily influenced, but new indications are pointing to a disturbing trend in which teens steal prescription drugs from their parents’ medicine cabinets and create “prescription cocktails” that can be shared with friends at parties. Prescription medications such as Xanax®, OxyContin®, and Ambien® are some of the popular name brand pills that teenagers look for when raiding their household medicine cabinets.

Pharma Parties: Is Your Teen Participating?

Since prescription medications can be prescribed for a number of reasons and aren’t always taken on a regular basis, it can be easy for a teenager to take one or two pills from each medicine bottle without anyone noticing. If a household has sleeping prescriptions and cough medicines that are only used every few months, it’s simple to not notice that extra pills have gone missing. Mixing prescriptions together can lead to drug abuse and addiction, though, so it’s important to keep track of all of the medicines located within your home.

On top of looking out for any unusual behaviors, parents should also keep prescription medicines in an attended area where quantities can be monitored. If you aren’t using a certain prescription anymore, dispose of it immediately.