Teens talk about their experiences with prescription drugs in this transcript of the Office of National Drug Control Policy’s video, “Teens and Prescription Drugs.”
Sara, 16
I think the appeal of prescription drugs is just like the easy access of it, like… how my friends were using it, how I could find it in my kitchen cupboards…I can get it easily from a doctor by lying to him.
Nick, 19
There’s a lot more knowledge about what exactly you’re taking, you know. You know the milligram. You know the dose. You can go on different, you know websites and find the long-term, short-term, side effects, you know.
Sara
They could pass me a pill and I could swallow a pill without the teacher noticing in class or without my parents noticing cause I wouldn’t have the smell of marijuana on me.
Jessica, 17
I went on the Internet because when my dad moved out, he left a lot of pills behind. And I didn’t know what they were. But I knew that some of them could get me high.
Nick
I can control when I can be happy. If I want to go to sleep, I’ll take these pills. If I want to be, you know, outgoing and confident, I’m going to take these ones. If I want to get down and just relax, I’m going to take these ones.
Jordan, 15
They’re safer than street drugs, because you don’t know what they’re putting in, maybe cocaine or ecstasy or meth, you don’t know what they’re putting in that. But if you get a prescription from a doctor, you know what it is, you know how much it is, you know, you know?
Sara
I could buy prescriptions or any drug really just as fast I can buy pizza.
Nick
So I knew it was a problem because it completely engulfed my life. I mean, woke up … woke up. First thing I thought of, man, who’s got a sack? Or where, how am I going to get money in my gas tank so I can go drive somewhere to get high.
Jessica
I just chose to ignore the fact that I was shaky all the time, that I felt really sick because I wasn’t sleeping. I couldn’t sit down sometimes or even just like lay down or anything at night because my heart was beating so fast. And that would scare me.
Nick
You don’t think, “Man, what are the long-term effects?” You know, mentally, psychologically, spiritually, whatever, emotionally, what could these drugs do in the long run?
Jessica
I didn’t want to stop using. So I didn’t want to see anything that was really going on. I didn’t want to see how I was hurting myself physically.
Sara
I think when I was using, I was just so focused on getting high I didn’t really care about the future. I used to… think that addicts were just the bums on the street in New York or… that people shooting up heroin everyday, like I couldn’t be an addict, I’m from the suburbs, like, I can’t do that kind of stuff.
Jordan
You know, it makes me really sad to think about because I wanted all this control in my life, you know, I wanted to be in charge, but really the substance was controlling me.
Jessica, started using drugs at 12
I lost a lot while I was using. I lost just time in general. I don’t remember a lot of it.
Especially while I was using prescriptions, I blacked out a lot. And I don’t remember half the things that I did in the past three years.
Nick, started using drugs at 12
You know, I gained nothing. I lost. I dropped out of school when I was sixteen.
Jordan, started using drugs at 11
I lost my childhood. I never had the chance to be a kid.
Nick
I’ll take that back. I did gain some things. I gained some drug … some drug addiction. I gained multiple charges. I gained the reputation of being a drug addict. So, yeah you could say those gains are losses.
Jordan
Because I’ve talked with a lot of parents before and a lot of them are in denial about their kids using when I was the one using with their kid. “My kid would never do that. He has good grades in school.”
Jessica
I think that to keep their kids safer, I would tell parents to throw away their prescriptions when they’re done with them. And just to be more aware of which drugs can be abused.
And… just be more aware of their medication in general, like not just leave the bottles around; and really to talk to their kids about it.
Sara
I wish I could have talked to my parents more. I wish I could have reached out to them … Pressuring me.
Jessica
Because I know for me when I talked about using drugs with my parents more, I would feel guilty that I was using because I didn’t want to lie to them.
Jordan
If you really feel the need to then, you know, search your kid’s room. Don’t be afraid to ask him, hey, are you getting high or have you gotten high or do you have drugs, do you know anybody who gets high. Don’t be afraid to ask those questions, because how else are you going to figure out if your kid’s using or not?
Material provided by the ONDCP National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign. Watch the video at www.theantidrug.com/drug_info/prescription_more_resources.asp.