Teens Who Abuse Drugs Continue As Adults

A new University of Michigan study confirms what many parents fear.

Teens who misuse pain medications like codeine, oxycodone and other prescription drugs become more at risk to abuse drugs when they are older.

Researchers say more than half of the high school seniors who took the drugs for fun as older teens reported two or more substance abuse symptoms at age 35.

On the other hand, a majority of those teens who took drugs for a medical issue didn’t misuse them when they got older.

Police and health professionals say parents should get rid of leftover prescription drugs that aren’t being used.

The study appears in the journal Pain.