Introducing the new #1 gateway drug for teenagers. (It’s not what you think.)

Up until recently, when a teenager decided to try an illicit substance of some kind, the first was probably marijuana or alcohol. Maybe they had already taken a step that their parents forbade them to do–they smoked a couple of cigarettes.

But today, the top gateway drug is none of these. Instead, it’s the variety of clean, colorful little pills that teens find in their parents’ medicine cabinet—or the medicine cabinets of their friends’ parents.

Why have prescription opiate pain pills like Vicodin and Oxycontin (as well as stimulants like Adderall and Ritalin, and sleeping pills like Lunesta and Ambien) become such a popular drug for teens who otherwise might not be using? Some possible factors include:

• The fact that many kids see a close relationship between street drugs and hypodermic needles. This often invokes frightening images of HIV—and may indeed, if the needles have already been used, actually carry HIV. Not something to be messed with lightly.
• The clean, colorful look of manufactured drugs appears superficially safe—after all, they’re issued by big multinational companies that advertise every night on television. They must certainly know what they’re doing, right?
• Also, there’s no hippie, grunge, goth, or counterculture stigma to prescription opiate pain pills—they’re something “A” students often feel comfortable taking, because they’re not associate with dropouts.
• One classic mark of addiction is lying to yourself as well as to others—and someone taking these innocuous-looking prescription pills might credibly tell himself or herself, “I’m not an addict.”

Regardless of how “non-threatening”, “non-street,” or “professional” these prescription medications may look, if the individual using them goes into withdrawal symptoms 4-8 hours after taking their last dose, guess what, to some degree they probably have a physical dependence on the medication. 

More likely, they need to look at their behavior and see whether they actually need some professional help. These problems don’t usually solve themselves.