Preventing Prescription Drug Abuse Among Teenagers
Prescription drug abuse has become a major public health concern. Although the abuse of many substances among youth has declined in recent years, misuse of prescription drugs has increased. The reasons students give for misusing prescription drugs are different than their motives for using other drugs. Teenagers often resort to prescription drugs to lower stress and anxiety, boost their mood, stay up all night studying for an exam, or to enhance academic or athletic performance. Most education and prevention programmes on stimulant misuse are aimed at college students. Given that youth are beginning to misuse prescription stimulants in high school (ages 16-19) rather than at university, prevention efforts related to the misuse of stimulants might be more effective if implemented as early as middle school.
The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (CCSA) has recently analysed a variety of programmes and strategies aimed at preventing prescription drug abuse in order to provide guidance in the creation of effective prevention programmes. In their review they identified the following principles for developing prevention programmes:
- Collect data to understand the problem in your local setting
- Consider programme factors (i.e. scope, linkage to health services, workforce and capacity)
- Involve youth in the design and implementation of the programme
- Incorporate a multi-disciplinary approach
- Ensure regular programme evaluation
