EG Teens Speak Out About Prescription Drug Use

Teens abusing alcohol – that's the typical picture. But EG drug counselor Bob Houghtaling has been sounding the alarm for years now that misuse of prescription drugs is equally, if not more, dangerous.

This week, WPRI visited East Greenwich and talked with Houghtaling and some EGHS students about the issue.

"This is something that has caught people by surprise," Houghtaling said.

WPRI reported that over the past 10 years, Houghtaling and others have reported an uptick in the abuse of medications like Adderall and Ritalin for Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity disorders. However, it's the prescription pain killers most often found in a parent's medicine cabinet, like oxyContin, percocet, zicodin and codeine, that rank as most popular among teens.

"You're seeing with some of these young people, they're having difficulty with keeping up with the pace of life," Houghtaling told WPRI.

By the time they are high school seniors, 18 percent of Rhode Island 12th grade students report using painkillers at least once in their lifetime, according to Rhode Island Kids Count.

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