The medicine cabinet may seem like a strange place to look for a way to get high. But a growing number of teenagers are doing just that, raiding their parents' pill bottles or buying prescription drugs illegally through Internet pharmacies and dealers.

Parents need to wake up to this growing trend, and watch out for signs that their son or daughter might be using medicines to get high, warns a University of Michigan Health System expert who has treated teens for prescription drug abuse problems.

"Prescription drug use is becoming more of a problem among teens, and the trend has been increasing in the last three to four years," says Maher Karam-Hage, M.D., medical director of the Chelsea Arbor Treatment Center, which U-M operates in conjunction with Chelsea Community Hospital. "These drugs can be highly addictive if they're used on an ongoing basis, and the person can become physically, psychologically and behaviorally dependent on them."

Parents might not realize it, but far more teens use prescription or over-the-counter drugs to get high than use "harder" drugs like heroin, cocaine or Ecstasy.

Recent anonymous survey results show that one in every 10 high school seniors had used the painkiller Vicodin in the last year without a doctor's orders. Roughly the same number had used the stimulant Ritalin in the last year, about 6 percent had used tranquilizers, and 4.5 percent had used the super-potent painkiller OxyContin.

Opioids, such as OxyContin and Vicodin, as well as their generic cousins oxycodone and hydrocodone, are from the same family of drugs as heroin. Used correctly, they ease the pain of people recovering from surgery or coping with terrible back pain. But crushed and snorted or swallowed, they become powerfully addictive drugs that users need more and more of to get high.

Stimulants, such as Ritalin and Dexedrine help children with attention deficit disorder, and people with asthma or narcolepsy. When abused, these substances can produce a similar high — and cause the same harm — as methamphetamine and other illegal drugs. In addition to becoming addictive, they can make the heart beat erratically, drive body temperatures dangerously high, or even cause lethal seizures.

Depressants, such as barbiturates and tranquilizers or sedatives, calm the nerves of millions of people with anxiety disorders and are used for short-term use by people with insomnia problems. If someone stops taking them suddenly after abusing them, he or she can go into withdrawal, including seizures.

Also abusable and unsafe when taken in large doses is diphenhydramine, found in drugstore remedies such as over-the-counter allergy medicines (Benadryl, etc.) and over-the-counter sleep aids (Sominex, Unisom).

Other over-the-counter medications have ingredients that can endanger a teen if abused. "Dextromethorphan, which is an active ingredient in most cough remedies can be a dangerous thing," says Karam-Hage. "Because it's over-the-counter, teenagers or even adults think they can use as much as they want without any problem. But that can be very, very dangerous and can become a major addiction by itself."

So what's a parent to do?

If someone in your household has a valid reason for taking any of these drugs, make sure that others can't get them. Know what's in your medicine cabinet, and how much is left. If you notice your teen is taking cough medicine when he or she doesn't have a cough, ask him or her about it.

Parents can look for include drops in their children's grades at school, sudden behavior changes or shifts in the kinds of friends they hang out with. "If there's a change in their relationship with their parents, or they all of a sudden become isolated or not talkative, or if they choose different friends and groups at school, that can signal a problem," Karam-Hage says.

If you discover or even suspect that your teen is abusing prescription medications, talk to his or her doctor or seek other professional help. Treatment programs can help, but breaking an addiction or dependence on a prescription drug is often difficult and requires expert guidance.

Even if you don't suspect your child is using medications to get high, take time to talk about the issue. "The best way to prevent it from happening is to educate your teen and be very clear about the inappropriateness of using other people's prescriptions, and the importance of understanding how much to use of an over-the-counter medication and what for," Karam-Hage advises. "You can start creating that dialogue, and start drawing the lines, of what is appropriate and what is not."

For more information, visit these web sites:

Chelsea Arbor Treatment Center (U-M/Chelsea Community Hospital): www.chelseaarbor.org

National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information:
www.health.org

Nat'l Inst. on Drug Abuse - Prescription Drugs: www.drugabuse.gov/ResearchReports/Prescription

Prescription drug abuse (National Inst. on Drug Abuse): www.drugabuse.gov/Infofax/PainMed.html

Find a drug treatment center near you:
findtreatment.samhsa.gov