Drug use and binge drinking spikes in Tennessee county, survey says

By Staff Writer

A recent survey reveals that binge drinking and prescription drug use is on the rise in a Tennessee county.

The Tennessean reports that 12 percent of 10th-graders admitted that they had used prescription drugs to get high within 30 days of taking the survey. Approximately 27 percent of high school seniors said they had drank five or more alcohol drinks in a row at least once during a two-week period. That number is 8 percent higher than it was in 2006.

The survey shows that kids are beginning to experiment with tobacco, alcohol and marijuana around ages 14 and 15. At county schools, a combined 49 misdemeanor juvenile drug arrests and seven felony arrests were made last year.

The most alarming trend for school officials and local law enforcement is the rise of prescription drug use amongs teens. The coordinator of student safety told the news source that a lot of adolescents do not know what the drugs' effects are when they take them. He also said there is a common misconception that certain pills are safe to take because they are prescribed by a doctor.

According to DrugFree.org, nearly one in five teens in America - 4.5 million - report abusing prescription medications in order to get high.