Vail Academy & High School

Hello Darkness My Old Friend:

Adolescent Prescription Drug Abuse and the Effects on the Human Body

Ceci Kimball

Senior Exit Project

Mrs. Eva L. Peters

17 November 2016
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Ceci Kimball

Senior Exit Project

Eva Peters

17 November 2016

Hello Darkness My Old Friend:

Adolescent Prescription Drug Abuse and the Effects on the Human Body

Prescription drugs. Although manufactured for assumingly positive purposes and to help

cure a wide range of so-called "problems," prescription drugs seem to be worth more than they

cost. The issue has been over 50 years in the making, first gaining momentum with the "war on

drugs" movement in the early 1970s. Yet, it is the young and impressionable millennials who are

so viciously subjected to the drug industry through no fault of their own. In a graduate study

from Middle Tennessee State University, it was found that stimulants and sedative-hypnotics are

most commonly and most intentionally abused by both adolescents and young adults, most likely

to get off chasing a high or rush that cannot be replicated with the on-the-shelf brands

(Hamilton). From this quest for temporary intoxication, the American drug industry spawned an

addiction to prescription drugs. This addiction has fed off adults for so many years, but is now

targeting a new victim: teens. The youths of today are the biggest growing drug addiction

statistics in the nations history, destroying both their developing brains, and prepubescent

persons as well. Prescription drug abuse is affecting an increasingly extensive number of

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adolescents every year; this obsession with narcotics adversely affects body and mind, in

addition to sadistically contributing to the industry itself.

A LUCRATIVE INDUSTRY

In 2014, the prescription drug industry made billions in profit (Anderson). The

pharmaceutical industry has an outstanding record of innovation performance over the past 50

years, and their earnings are some of the highest in our nation's history (Grabowski). Why? It is

simple. Americans today always want an easy way out; as a country, the United States is

increasingly lazier than most. Furthermore, America ranked first in laziness in a 2010 study by

the New York Post, and presently there seems to be a pill for everything (Lisi). Experiencing

back pains? Take ibuprofen. Anxiety? Xanax. Lack of sex-drive? Viagra. Humans are not

willing to accept the fact that they have flaws, and instead of addressing or approaching the issue

in rational ways, they choose, as an entire nation, to pop pillspills with ingredients most

Americans do not even know how to pronounce.

Each drug is now introduced with an phonetically simple nickname, thus increasing its

appeal. When stimulants, known as amphetamines, were introduced in 1887, they did not

generate any revenue (A Social History of Americas Most Popular Drugs). It was not until the

1920s when medical professionals would use amphetamines to raise blood pressure, open nasal

passages, and stimulate the nervous system that its popularity was ultimately enhanced. The

inevitable abuse of these drug came only a decade later when the product was marketed under

the name Benzedrine and sold in an over-the-counter inhaler (A Social History of Americas
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Most Popular Drugs). Moreover, the industry itself has tilted its focus from benefiting

consumers to a more parasitic relationship: exhausting citizens of their hard-earned dollars.

Prescription drug spending is the third most expensive cost in our healthcare system. And

spending seems to grow larger every year. Just last year, the average American got 12

prescriptions a year, as compared with 1992, when Americans got an average of seven

prescriptions. In a decade and a half, the use of prescription medication went up 71

percentThere was a fear shared by doctors and drug companies alike that

advertising drugs directly to consumers could be harmful. Both the drug companies and

the doctors worried that even though consumers couldn't really evaluate whether or not a

drug was appropriate, they might become convinced by an ad, and pressure their doctor

to prescribe it. (Spiegel)

The process can be compared to a self-diagnosis on Web MD; simply typing in a few symptoms

into a search bar and clicking enter seems to determine the status of ones anxiety, depression,

or, my personal favorite, brain cancer. It is the job of a trained medical professional to diagnose

these illnesses, not a second-hand website. However, the corruption of the for-profit medical

industry in recent years leaves patients to wonder: who should they trust, the internet or a

less-than devoted physician?

The lucrative drug industry does not end with the manufacturer, but rather extends into

health offices worldwide. It is the dirty work of pharmaceutical companies that creates a

hospitals drug flow ease: In 2004, pharmaceutical companies spent an average of $10,000 per
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practicing American physician on free meals, free continuing medical education (CME) training,

free trips to conferences, and payments for various services (Miller). These added doctoral

benefits do not even begin to describe how underhanded the industry has become. Ultimately, it

is the consumers who are getting the short end of the stick, denying them their American right to

evaluate multiple, advantageous health care options. As long as the drug industry has been

around, their placebo-esque intentions have pursued. Regrettably, this means has come to no

end.

AN ADOLESCENT APPROACH

More frequently, the incidents of using prescription drugs in a nonmedical environment

continues to increase among both high school and college students (Johnson et al.). In a study

performed by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, it was found that one out of every four

adolescents, aged twelve to seventeen, reported the nonmedical use of prescription pain

medication in 2004. Even though the study was over a decade ago, the information still reigns as

true as ever. The requests for prescription medication have dramatically increased since the early

1990s, and moreover, unintentional overdose deaths involving opioids have quadrupled since

1999, outnumbering deaths by cocaine and heroin combined since 2007 (Volkow). The nation

has a disquieting public health problem, yet why is it not being addressed?

It was President Richard Nixon who coined the term "war on drugs" in the 1970s

claiming, America's public enemy number one in the United States is drug abuse. However,
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the problem still remains a pressing issue today, given the estimated 52 million Americans who

have misused prescription drugs at least once in their lifetime (Volkow). Nixon was right,

prescription drug abuse was and is a silent killer, producing an insatiably addictive state. Out of

the 52 million Americans who have abused prescription drugs, a strong number are exhibited in

the youth of today. According to the National Institute of Drug Abuse, nonmedical drugs rank

third as the most commonly abused substance by Americans aged 14 and older, following

directly behind marijuana and alcohol. The drugs this obsessed nation are abusing are some of

the most powerful in existence. Controlled opioid substances are gaining in popularity and with

probable cause: the harder the drug is to get ahold of, the more coveted it is for all ages. As early

as the year 2000, opioid deaths increased by 200% and by 2014, 168,000 teens were addicted to

prescription painkillers. Furthermore, the United States 4.6% of the worlds population enjoys

80% of all manufactured opioids worldwide, by this statistic alone it is evident that there is a

serious problem present in our nation.

The bitter truth is most adolescents will experience a drug-related incident at least once in

their life. Speaking personally, I was in fifth grade when I was first introduced to prescription

drug abuse. It was at my elementary school when a young boy had been supplying prescription

drugs from his backpack; he had stolen the bottles directly from his parents medicine cabinet

and proclaimed his contraband to half the student body. It was only a matter of hours before the

police were on campus and the boy had been suspended from school, but the rumors spread like

wildfire. Speculations of court time, a "juvie" sentence, and even an overdose on said pills,
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circulated lunchtime discussions; yet, at the end of the day, they were all just rumors. The boy

returned to school the next month and life went on, warranting the harsh truths of the world

around us. Events or memories like these are not easily forgotten, and for just cause. The reality

of the prevalence of drugs in elementary, middle, and high schools is all too real. The effects of

an Oxycontin or Vicodin high is an experience these young minds revisit continuously until they

can imitate those reactions again: a chain that pulls them deeper into addiction.

COMPLICATIONS OF THE BRAIN AND BODY

Pharmaceuticals are known to accompany relief with inevitable side effects. And most

drugs have more than just one. According to the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, Side effects

can vary from minor problems like a runny nose to life-threatening events, such as an increased

risk of a heart attack (Learning About Side Effects). While several factors influence any

possible side effect that may arise (gender, age, metabolic tendencies, allergies, etc.), these

problems may continue to worsen as misuse of prescription pills eclipses need and transforms

into a want, a desire, an obsession. Opioids are some of the most commonly abused drugs in the

world, easily adaptable to tolerance, meaning you gradually need more to produce the same

effect (Brodwin and Lee). These opioids act directly within the brains of their users,

suppressing the perception of pain and emotion while assisting in the addiction and rewarding

functions of the cerebrum also replicated in a heroin high.

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Even without addiction, the single use of opioids can cause respiratory deficiencies,

limiting the flow of oxygen to the brain. The drug can even produce the "tighter than a drum"

effect: constipation. Although this is the most widely seen side effect among opioid users, the

more laughable precaution is nothing compared to those that accompany serious addiction.

Though dependency can be resolved within weeks of detoxification, addiction is a much longer,

more painful process. The craving, compulsive nature of addicts are immense and often times

many in such a situation fail to overcome their disease, resulting in coma, brain damage, or even

death.

The unruliness of addiction is more biological than psychological. Human brain cells act

differently when exposed to the drug and soon develop reward-like situations when subjected to

opioids.

When heroin, oxycodone, or any other opiate travels through the bloodstream to the brain,

the chemicals attach to specialized proteins, called mu opioid receptors, on the surfaces of

opiate-sensitive neurons (brain cells). The linkage of these chemicals with the receptors

triggers the same biochemical brain processes that reward people with feelings of pleasure

when they engage in activities that promote basic life functions, such as eating and sex.

Opioids are prescribed therapeutically to relieve pain, but when opioids activate these

reward processes in the absence of significant pain, they can motivate repeated use of the

drug simply for pleasure. (Kosten and George)

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CONCLUSION

If prescription drugs were designed to ease the suffering of the human population, then

why are Americans dying of dependency, debt, and delusion? The pharmaceutical industry

makes myriad amounts of money at the expense of Americas blatant laziness, and the cash flow

is only intensifying with the increase in mortality rates. The capitalistic intentions of personal

care physicians have superseded that of their desire to responsibly care for the needs of their

patients. Apparently, ethics is not taught in medical school. Despite the rise in serious adverse

events involving the use of opioids, including death, these medications continue to be widely

prescribed in the majority of patients suffering from chronic pain (Benyamin et al.).

Ignoring the drug epidemic is not the answer. With the growing rate of deaths and

number of people getting "hooked" on these stimulants and painkillers, there is no denying the

existence of a universal, malfeasant problem. Prescription drug abuse accounts for the majority

of drug-related morbidity and mortality in America (Greenfield and Weiss). Regardless, with

the generation of millennials experimenting with temporary highs comes a bigger challenge,

overcoming side effects and treating eventual opioid addiction. The children that represent this

nation are under a haze of drug abuse. When combined with the other top two overused

substances by teens in America, marijuana and alcohol, the numbers truly speak for themselves.

As death and dependency rates surge without any positive societal contribution, it is no wonder

that users have collapsed into an escapeless demise; and without any call for action, it is

ultimately a pattern doomed to remain.

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Works Cited

"A Social History of Americas Most Popular Drugs." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/buyers/socialhistory.html>.

Anderson, Richard. "Pharmaceutical Industry Gets High on Fat Profits."BBC News. N.p., 6 Nov.

2014. Web. <http://www.bbc.com/news/business-28212223>.

Benyamin, Ramsin, MD, Andrea M. Trescot, MD, Sukdeb Datta, MD, Ricardo Buenaventura,

MD, Rajive Adlaka, MD, Nalini Sehgal, MD, Scott E. Glaser, MD, and Ricardo Vallejo,

MD. "Opioid Complications and Side Effects." Pain Physician 2008 1.11 (2008):

105-20. Web.

Brodwin, Erin, and Samantha Lee. "What a Legal Drug That Kills More Americans than Heroin

Does to Your Mind and Body." Business Insider. Business Insider, Inc, 18 May 2016.

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<http://www.businessinsider.com/mental-physical-effects-of-painkillers-like-oxy-2016-5

>.

Grabowski, Henry. "The Evolution of the Pharmaceutical Industry Over the Past 50 Years: A

Personal Reflection." International Journal of the Economics of Business 18.2

(2011): 161-76. Department of Economics, Duke University. Web.

<http://fds.duke.edu/db/attachment/1710>.

Greenfield, DP, and KJ Weiss. "Prescription Drug Abuse." The Psychiatric Clinics of North

America 9.3 (1986): 475-90. Europe PMC. Web.

<http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/3534817>.
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Hamilton, Gloria J. "Prescription Drug Abuse." Diss. Middle Tennessee State U, 2009. Abstract.

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Johnson, Lloyd D., Ph.D., Patrick M. O'Malley, Ph.D., Jerald G. Bachman, Ph.D., and John E.

Schulenburg, Ph.D. MONITORING THE FUTURE NATIONAL SURVEY RESULTS ON

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"Learning About Side Effects." Fda.gov. The U.S. Food & Drug Administration, 21 Sept. 2016.

Web. 13 Oct. 2016.

<http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm196029.htm>.

Lisi, Clemente. "Survey: US Is World's Laziest Country." New York Post. New York Post,

17 Feb. 2010. Web. <http://nypost.com/2010/02/17/survey-us-is-worlds-laziest-

country/>.

Miller, J. D. "Study Affirms Pharma's Influence on Physicians." JNCI Journal of the National

Cancer Institute 99.15 (2007): 1148-150. Web.

Nixon, Richard. "Richard Nixon: Remarks About an Intensified Program for Drug Abuse

Prevention and Control." Richard Nixon: Remarks About an Intensified Program for

Drug Abuse Prevention and Control. N.p., 17 June 1971. Web. 16 Oct. 2016.

<http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/?pid=3047>.

Spiegel, Alex. "Selling Sickness: How Drug Ads Changed Health Care." NPR. NPR, 13 Oct.
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2009. Web. 13 Oct. 2016.

<http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113675737>.

Volkow, Nora D., M.D. "From the Director." National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). N.p.,

Nov. 2014. Web. 11 Oct. 2016.

<https://www.drugabuse.gov/publications/research-reports/prescription-drugs/director>.