Fewer Teens Abusing Prescription Painkillers: Report

By Join Together Staff | February 4, 2014 | 1 Comment | Filed in Drugs,Tobacco, Young Adults & Youth

A new government report finds fewer teens are abusing prescription painkillers or smoking. According to the report, 8.7 percent of teens and 9.8 percent of young adults abused prescription painkillers in 2011, down from 9.2 percent of teens and 12 percent of young adults in 2007.

The National Behavior Health Barometer report found 6.6 percent of teens smoked cigarettes in 2012, down from 9.2 percent in 2008, according to USA Today. The report found 9.5 percent of teens used any illicit drug in 2012, about the same as in 2008. There was an increase in the number of people enrolled in substance use treatment in a single-day count, from 1.19 million in 2008, to 1.25 million in 2012.

The number of teens suffering from major depression rose, from 8.3 percent in 2008, to 9.1 percent in 2012. Only one-third of those teens received treatment in either year.

The number of people receiving buprenorphine treatment for heroin addiction jumped 400 percent from 2006 to 2010, the report found. The number of people receiving outpatient behavioral health treatment through Medicare rose by more than 30 percent from 2006 to 2010, the article notes.