Flair
Inside Flair ...
Over the
counter,
into the
grave
Lanesville students, parents learn dangers lurking in medicine cabinets
ALAN STEWART
Staff Writer
astewart@corydondemocrat.com
im Manlove knows
K all too well the
dangers of pre-
scription drug abuse. His
16-year-old son, David, died
in a drug-related drowning
just 11 months after he and
his wife learned of their
son’s abuse.
The teen was inhaling
computer duster in a pool
when the chemicals in the
duster froze his lungs and
interrupted the electrical
activity in his heart, putting
him into cardiac arrest.
Kim Manlove said his son
was inhaling computer
duster not because it was
his drug of choice, but his
drug of opportunity.
Manlove, a recovering
addict himself who has
appeared on the CBS
“Morning Show,” Good
Morning America on ABC
and on the Fox News Chan-
nel, spoke to Lanesville stu-
dents last Tuesday morning
about the dangers of pre-
scription drug abuse then
held a similar conference
open to parents that
evening.
“I’ll be an addict and an
alcoholic for the rest of my
life just like I’ll always be a
dad who lost his son,”
Manlove said.
While drugs like mari-
juana or methamphetamine
typically steal the media’s
spotlight, Manlove said the
prescription and over-the-
counter drugs that are con-
tained in nearly each home
in America are every bit as
dangerous and are abused
just as much.
A student survey of 11th
graders in Harrison County
this year — conducted by
the Harrison County Sub-
stance Abuse Prevention
Coalition — showed the fol-
lowing amounts of drug
use: amphetamines, 17.1
percent (state average, 8.1
percent); Ritalin/Adderall,
19.5 percent (state average,
11.1 percent); tranquilizer
use, 26 percent (state aver-
age, 11.8 percent); nar-
cotics, 23.6 percent (state
average, 11.3 percent); and
over-the-counter drug use,
26.8 percent (state average,
12.7 percent). In Indiana, 8
percent of students age 12
to 17 have abused a drug in
the past year.
Jeff Skaggs, president of
the HCSAPC, said that the
abuse of medications is a
quickly growing trend
among youth.
Nationally since 1996,
among eighth-graders, 38
percent have tried alcohol,
57 percent have tried ciga-
rettes and 53 percent have
abused some type of drug.
In the past 30 days, 22 per-
cent of high school seniors
have used an illicit drug,
almost 30 percent have con-
sumed a beer and 25 per-
cent have had five or more
drinks in a row in the past
two weeks (binge drinking).
Prescription drug abuse
among teens has increased
from 8 percent in 2006 to 16
percent in 2008.
Most prescription and
over-the-counter medica-
tions are obtained from the
child’s own home or a
friend’s house. The leading
drugs being stolen from the
medicine cabinets are
Kim Manlove of Indianapolis points out that parents make a difference in their children’s lives when
it comes to protecting them from prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse. Manlove delivered
a speech in the Lanesville Junior-Senior High School gymnasium Sept. 29.
Vicodin, OxyContin, Adder-
all, Ritalin, Xanax or Vali-
um and some cough medi-
cines such as Robitussin.
The Indianapolis speaker
described what are called
“farming parties,” where
teens raid their parents’
medicine cabinets and take
pills, then put them into a
collective bowl at the party.
The pills are then stirred
and randomly taken.
Manlove said the key to
keeping children from abus-
ing prescription and OTC
drugs is early intervention.
“Kids who learn of the
dangers of drugs are 50 per-
cent less likely to use
drugs. Nine out of 10 alco-
holics started drinking alco-
hol as a teenager. And a
child that gets through
their teenage years without
using drugs is not likely to
abuse drugs in their life-
time,” Manlove said. “The
key is intervention.”
Rob Coffin, a recovering
addict who spoke after
Manlove’s presentation,
started abusing OTC drugs
at the age of 9.
“I told my parents that I
hurt and they’d give me a
pill. I wasn’t asking for beer
or a joint or cocaine. I was
asking for something for
pain, and they were more
than willing to just give it
to me,” Coffin said. “They
would catch on and would-
n’t give me anything for a
while, but then I’d say I had
a toothache and they’d give
me something to make me
feel better.”
Factors that could play
into whether or not a child
abuses drugs include: fami-
ly history of abuse; friends
who use; early first use of a
THE CORYDON DEMOCRAT | OCTOBER 7, 2009
drug; diagnosed or non-
diagnosed depression or
medical health issues; and
problems in school stem-
ming from learning disabili-
ties.
Teenagers face all sorts
of things during one of the
most impressionable times
of their lives: general
stress, relationships,
friends, family pressures
and issues, transitions such
as moving from junior high
to high school and trying to
fit in, and trying to find
their independence.
Manlove said part of the
reason teens and children
are so susceptible to
becoming addicted is
because medical research
has shown that the human
brain stops developing at 25
years of age for girls, and
26 years of age for boys.
The rear of the brain, which
controls breathing and vital
functions, develops first;
the front of the brain, which
develops last, controls judg-
ment, critical thinking and
thinking about the ramifica-
tions of a person’s actions.
That’s one reason that
Manlove says parents need
to be involved in their chil-
dren’s lives. He said anoth-
er reason is because,
according to MTV, almost
one-half of children and
teenagers name a parent as
a hero.
“Twenty percent of teens
are never talked to about
drug abuse, and 51 percent
of teens are never talked to
about prescription drug
abuse,” Manlove said.
Manlove offered several
tips for parents to help
avoid drug abuse:
• Know who your child is
ALAN STEWART
with.
• Know where your child
is at all times.
• Explain the expecta-
tions of the child at home
and communicate the dan-
gers of abuse, and let the
child know you disapprove
of any drug use.
• Communicate with par-
ents of your child’s friends.
Follow up with other par-
ents to see if your child
really is where he/she says
they he/she is going to be.
• Establish and enforce a
no-use policy and feel free
to snoop in the child’s
room. (It’s your house and
you are doing this for them
and their safety.)
Coffin said he never had
much of a curfew for most
of his childhood, which may
have played a small part in
his addiction.
“And when we did, it
wasn’t really enforced. I’d
have to be home at 8, and
I’d call and say that I was
going to be a little late
because I had to finish
something. What I had to
finish was finish sobering
up.”
Manlove said if parents
discover their children are
using or abusing prescrip-
tion medication, they
shouldn’t panic.
“Start a dialogue with
your child. Set limits and
enforce consequences and,
finally, get outside, profes-
sional help,” Manlove said.
The event was sponsored
by a grant from the Harri-
son County Substance
Abuse Coalition and stu-
dents of Lanesville High
School.
Social News
C1
Drugs most often
used and abused
by teenagers:
Alcohol —
Street name: booze.
Teen usage: 1 in 2 teens drank
alcohol in the past year.
What teens have heard: makes
a boring night fun.
What it does: impairs reason-
ing; long-term heavy drinking
can lead to alcoholism and liver
and heart disease.
Important to know: Being a
child of an alcoholic places chil-
dren at greater risk for develop-
ing alcohol problems.
— Marijuana
Street name: weed, pot, skunk.
Teen usage: 2 in 5 teens have
used marijuana in their lifetime.
What teens have heard: makes
user relaxed, it’s not dangerous
and often it’s easier to obtain
than alcohol.
What it does: causes memory
and learning problems, halluci-
nations and depersonalization.
Important to know: Contrary
to popular belief, marijuana can
be addictive.
Inhalants —
Street name: whippets, bag-
ging, dusting, huffing.
Teen usage: 1 in 5 teens have
used inhalants in their lifetime.
What teens have heard: a
cheap, 20-minute high.
What it does: can induce death;
chronic exposure can produce
significant damage to heart,
lungs, liver and kidneys.
Important to know: More than
100 common products are poten-
tial inhalants that can kill on the
first use or anytime thereafter.
— Prescription pain relievers
Street name: OxyContin,
Vicodin, Codeine, Percocet.
Teen usage: 1 in 5 teens have
abused prescription pain reliev-
ers in their lifetime.
What teens have heard: a free
high, straight from the medicine
cabinet.
What it does: a large single
dose can cause severe respirato-
ry depression that can lead to
death.
Important to know: Abusing
prescription painkillers is just as
dangerous, addictive and deadly
as using heroin.
Cough medicine/DXM —
Street name: Dex, tussin,
syrup, skittles, robo.
Teen usage: 1 in 10 teens have
abused cough medicine in their
lifetime.
What teens have heard: causes
a trippy high with various
plateaus.
What it does: can cause abdom-
inal pain, extreme nausea and liv-
er damage.
Important to know: the “high”
from cough medicine is caused by
ingesting a large amount of dex-
tromethorphan (DXM), a com-
mon ingredient found in many
cough medications.
INFORMATION FROM PARTNERSHIP FOR A DRUG-FREE AMERICA