In San Diego, Calif., the number of teens addicted to OxyContin has risen too high not to notice – and one local news station is shining a light on the growing epidemic. In addition to the two-hour report “Oxy: What Your Kids Aren’t Telling You,” which ran earlier this week, the television news station KUSI has aired a series of reports and compiled information on prescription drug abuse locally and across the nation on its website. Among the findings: the large number of privileged teens in the area are finding ample supplies of OxyContin in their parents’ medicine cabinets, and 28 percent of young people booked in San Diego Juvenile Hall in 2009 admit to prescription drug abuse, according to this article from KUSI. The story is being echoed throughout the U.S.: this survey from The National Center of Addiction and Drug Abuse at Columbia University reports that 8.7 million teenagers reported being able to access prescription drugs within a day.
To view “Oxy: What Your Kids Aren’t Telling You,” go here.
