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FL Teen Drug Use Down, Prescription Drug Abuse Up

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Nov 17, 2008 9:02 pm US/Eastern

FL Teen Drug Use Down, Prescription Drug Abuse Up

TALLAHASSEE (CBS4) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: Prescription medicines, graphic element on black
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Good news for Florida parents and teens: a new survey has found that overall drug use among youth is down!

Lt. Governor Jeff Kottkamp announced Monday that binge drinking and cigarette smoking among Florida's middle school and high school students has fallen since 2000, according to the 2008 Florida Youth Substance Abuse Survey. From 2000 to 2008, cigarette smoking has been cut in half. The number of teens and children that have smoked cigarettes within the past 30 days is at 9 percent.

Bing drinking, defined as having five or more drinks in a row sometime during the previous two weeks, it currently at 15 percent. That's down 4 points since 2000.

Early initiation is on its way down; research confirms that those who make it to adulthood without experimenting with drugs are much less likely to start using later in life.

It's not all good news, though. The survey results have found prescription drug abuse is on the rise. 4.5 percent of high school seniors reported abusing prescription pain relievers within the past month. 3.8 percent reported abusing prescription depressants. For the first year, middle school students were asked about their use of over-the-counter drugs (such as cold and cough medications) in order to get high. The lifetime prevalence rate of over-the-counter drug abuse is higher than any illegal drug except marijuana.

The survey has been administered every year since 2000 to middle and high school students.