Teen Oxycontin Addiction
Table of Contents
How Teens Use the Drug
Special Hazards
Teen Trouble
The Parental Role
In 1995, OxyContin was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of moderate-to-severe pain, and this was seen as a great breakthrough for people who had cancer or chronic pain. Other medications given for pain generally provided patients with a large burst of pain relief as soon as it was ingested, but those benefits tended to dissipate quickly and the patient felt pain once more. OxyContin was designed to release pain-busting medication over a period of several hours, allowing the patient to feel a consistent level of pain relief over a long period of time.
As soon as the medication was released to the general public, advertisements about the drug's benefits and effectiveness flooded the airwaves and people everywhere became aware of what the drugs could do. As a result, more and more patients began taking the medication for pain relief. According to an article in USA Today, drug companies began making larger quantities of the drug to keep up with demand. In 2004, drug companies made 29 million doses of OxyContin, up 15 million doses from four years prior. As more and more people began taking the drug, more teens began finding the medications in medicine cabinets in their homes. Many of these teens began experimenting with OxyContin and taking the drug for recreational purposes.
How Teens Use the Drug
Teens tend to crush the pills or dissolve them in water to strip the active drug from its time-release components, allowing the teen to feel all of the effects of the drug at once. As an article in Therapeutics and Clinical Risk Management suggests, teens might have learned this technique through reading warnings on the packaging of OxyContin. Manufacturers began printing warnings in a black box, stating that it was dangerous to crush or snort the drugs, and this tended to work as a sort of instruction manual for teens who wanted to abuse the drugs.
Teens who take OxyContin for recreation may feel a sense of euphoria and a rush of happiness. Some teens report feeling sedated, sleepy and warm, but other teens feel a boost of self-confidence. These teens may feel as though they could simply accomplish anything, without any assistance from anyone else. For teens struggling with low self-esteem or severe depression, these effects of OxyContin could be incredibly appealing.
Since OxyContin is easy to find and the effects seem tailor-made for teens, it's no surprise that teen OxyContin use is on the rise. According to a study produced by National Public Radio and the University of Michigan, OxyContin use among 12th graders rose 40 percent between 2002 and 2005. Some experts believe that we have reached epidemic levels of OxyContin addiction among teens in this country.
Special Hazards
Unlike other drugs teens tend to steal from medicine cabinets, OxyContin comes in several strengths. It is typically available in the following doses:
- 10 mg
- 20 mg
- 40 mg
- 80 mg
- 160 mg
While the dosing may be written on the bottle, it may not always be visible on the pill itself. Teens who are stealing drugs from medicine cabinets rarely read the fine print of the bottles when they steal them, and they don’t often pass this information to their friends when they share pills. Teens who take a low dose of OxyContin at home and then take a pill from a friend may end up taking a higher dose of the medication than they intended.
Some teens mix several drugs together in so-called "pharm parties." Each teen brings drugs from the home medicine cabinet and all drugs are mixed together in a bowl. Then, each teen takes a handful of pills and ingests them during the course of the party. This form of drug use is particularly troubling. As an article published in the Journal of Forensic Science states, OxyContin can be fatal when mixed with other common drugs such as clonazepam. The two drugs can slow breathing to such an extent that the teen simply stops breathing altogether. If the teen is surrounded by other teens who are also under the influence, no one may notice the trouble until it's far too late for medical intervention.
Teen Trouble
During adolescents, teens tend to compete against one another, and they may look for ways to flaunt their wealth and influence. Some teens manage this through their OxyContin use. When the family medicine cabinet runs dry, they must buy the pills, and each pill can cost $50 or more on the street. As the addiction deepens, however, and the teen must take larger and larger doses in order to achieve the same high, this habit can quickly become quite expensive. Some teens may resort to stealing in order to feed their habits. Others begin using heroin. This substance produces the same sort of euphoric feeling, but it's often much less expensive for the teen to buy.
Heroin use is important to mention in the context of OxyContin addiction. Teens who abuse heroin are at higher risk for HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases, especially if they share needles with other people. In addition, teens who abuse heroin are at incredibly high risk of arrest or other law enforcement action as a result of their addiction. While some teens might think they would never use a street drug like heroin, as the OxyContin addiction takes hold, heroin may seem more and more like a viable option as it is cheap, plentiful and available in extremely high doses.
In addition, a study published by the American Journal on Addictions suggests that teens who use OxyContin in combination with other drugs tend to progress to higher rates of heroin use than teens who simply use OxyContin alone. Teens who attend these pharm parties may be putting themselves at increased risk for a serious injectable drug habit.
Likewise, teens who begin to take OxyContin and/or heroin on a daily basis may be setting themselves up for a lifetime of addiction and substance abuse. In 2008, researchers performed a study on mice, comparing addiction rates between adults and adolescents. As reported by Reuters, the adolescent mice felt a greater benefit from OxyContin than did the adult mice. This could mean that adolescents who take the drug could feel a greater pleasurable sensation from the drug, and they may be forced to take extremely high doses of the drug later in life, as adults, in order to recreate that sensation. This puts them at greater risk for overdose.
The Parental Role
Parents often have the mistaken belief that addiction in teens is easy to spot and correct. The truth is that addicted teens may go to great lengths to hide their addiction, and many teens can continue to go to school, participate in sports and interact with the family, all while dealing with a significant addiction on their own. This doesn't mean, however, that OxyContin addiction leaves no telltale signs behind. It does mean, however, that parents will need to pay close attention to their teens in order to provide needed help at the proper time. Teens who are just beginning to experiment may be encouraged to stop, and teens who are dealing with addictions can receive help before they overdose or transition to other drugs.
Knowing the street names for OxyContin is a good place to start. Teens may toss these terms about between one another, thinking that the parents will never know what they are talking about. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse and others, these are good terms to listen for:
- Pharm parties or going pharming
- Hillbilly heroin
- Heading to the OC
- Happy pills
If your teen uses any of these terms, it's time to have a frank discussion. Some teens may be experimenting with the drugs, and it's important to remind the teen that even simple experimentation can lead to addiction. Other teens may have serious addiction problems already, and your statement of concern could lead to an enlightening talk about the problem.
If your teen admits to a serious addiction, you might be tempted to remove drugs from the house and keep the teen in seclusion until all of the drug has left his or her system for good. This sort of tough love approach is rarely effective in OxyContin addiction, and it's far from humane. Teens who stop taking the drugs on their own can feel debilitating withdrawal symptoms including cold sweats, hallucinations, severe pain and nausea. These symptoms aren't a form of punishment, and they rarely will keep an addicted person from returning to the drugs. Instead, the symptoms can be so strong and debilitating that the teen is driven to use drugs again to make the symptoms stop.
At Newport Academy, we provide treatment programs that can help teens recover from OxyContin addiction. Our programs combine medication management with counseling and behavioral therapies that can break the cycle of addiction. If your teen is struggling with addiction, we urge you to contact us and find out more about how we can help.
