They say more kids are popping random pills stolen from their parents’ medicine cabinets or purchased online or from friends.

“I liken it to Russian roulette with pharmaceuticals rather than a gun,” said John Johnson, Franciscan Skemp Healthcare director of pharmacy. “Without knowing what you’re taking, you’re opening yourself up to all sorts of potentially lethal consequences.”

U.S. teen misuse of prescription drugs grew 212 percent from 1992 to 2003, according to a July 2005 report from the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. That growth is 2.6 times greater than for those 18 and older in the same time period.

While only a handful of kids were taking prescription meds five or six years ago, they are now the drug of choice for many, said counselor Todd Hoffe.

The abuse of pharmaceutical and over-the-counter drugs has steadily increased, making it the third most abused substance in the teen patients Hoffe sees at Hoffe Counseling in La Crosse. Only marijuana and alcohol are used more.

“We have not seen an increase through referrals to our department from law enforcement,” said Wayde Anger, supervisor of Juvenile Justice Services for La Crosse County. However, Anger said he’s heard there is a lot of prescription and rave drug use through kids ages 17 and younger that his department sees.

“They say it’s amazing how many people are using,” he said.

Teens see the pharmaceuticals as safer than illegal drugs, said Heather Quackenboss, Coulee Council on Addictions prevention specialist in La Crosse. And they’re more readily available.

Quackenboss said they even resort to phoning in someone else’s prescription, get diagnosed for a particular prescription and forge prescriptions.

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