Freshman Get a Dose of Truth About Prescription Drug Abuse

With prescription drug abuse on the rise, the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General, through the Division of Consumer Affairs, kicked-off 'National Consumer Protection Week' by hosting a presentation about prescription drug abuse at Fort Lee High School last week.

Eric Kanefsky, Acting Director with the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs, along with representatives from the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence in Middlesex County, the Foundation for a Drug-Free World, the New Jersey Association of School Resource Officers, and local law enforcement emphasized the dangers of taking prescription drugs without a doctor's oversight to Fort Lee High School Freshman.

"At their core, prescription drugs have the same effect as herion--they are just as addictive and just as deadly," Kanefsky told the students.

According to Kanefsky, over the last five years, there has been a rise in the use of prescription drug use among high school students.

"High school students have been made aware of the dangers of street drugs such as cocaine and heroin, but they think that prescription drugs are safer," Kanefsky said. "The truth is that there's a prescription drug epidemic that's killing kids."

Linda Surks, with the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence of Middlesex County, shared the story of her son Jason who overdosed on prescription drugs in December 2003.

Despite the fact that Surks began working at the NCADD when Jason was six-years old and she was able to share enormous amounts of information about the real dangers of alcohol and drugs with him, despite the fact that he grew up with a strong support system, despite the fact that he was accepted to and enrolled in Rutgers University pre-pharmacy program, Jason turned to prescription drugs and overdosed.   

"He was good at keeping his drug use hidden," Surks said. "Even his girlfriend didn't know."

It was only after his death that she discovered that he had been visiting certain websites to learn how to "safely" use prescription drugs.

"The information that he got from those sites was wrong," Surks stressed. "The people writing about their experiences (safely mixing prescription drugs) were alive, but their information was not right."

"Jason was a loving son who made a horrible, horrible mistake," Surks told the students.

The message delivered by all of the speakers was this: the misperception that prescription drugs are safe because they are legal is wrong. The reason they require a prescription is so that a doctor can moniter the effect of the drug on that person to check for any dangerous side effects.