A risky prescription
Maybe Heath Ledger's accidental death will count for something.
Maybe it will make some of the 2,500 kids each day who try a painkiller to get high for the first time to decide not to. Most kids who try painkillers do it because they think it's a "safe" high, according to a new study from the Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Or maybe Ledger's death will wake up the parents who stock painkillers and sedatives such as those that killed him-- oxycodone, Percocet, Perodan, valium, Xanax -- to keep a lock, and an eye, on those drugs.
Just two days after Ledger's death, the Office of National Drug Control Policy -- the folks responsible for "Parents: The AntiDrug" campaign -- launched a new national campaign to teach parents about teen prescription drug abuse. Because parents' medicine cabinets are where the drugs are coming from.
There's lots to be alarmed about, not the least of which is that prescription drugs are easier to get, cheaper and more dangerous than the only drug teens use more than prescription pills: marijuana. You can find the entire study here.
So what do you think? Will Ledger's death make a difference? Do you think teen prescription drug abuse is a big deal?
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