December 30, 2008 Benjamin Wood

stoic13@hotmail.com

    Leigh Robertson (not her real name) took too many Xanax at a party, then topped it off with drinking.
    “I blacked out completely and still have no idea what happened to me," she said.
    "It was really scary, and it happens to girls all the time. Some guys who know how powerful the pills are give them to girls who have no idea about them, then they black out and have no control over what happens.”
    Dr. Robert Mooney, medical director at Willingway Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in Statesboro, said that this occurrence has become common.
    “More and more college students are using Xanex as the new date rape drug. They will crush it up and put into drinks and then wait for the victim to black out.”
    As prescription drugs become more available to the general public, larger numbers of young people are gaining access to them. According to a study by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA), prescription pill abuse by college students has increased exponentially in the years from 1993 to 2005.
    “My colleagues and I have noticed a tremendous increase in prescription pill usage among college and high school students,” said Mooney, “While use of stimulants such as Adderall and Ritalin have decreased, it has increased in sedative/hypnotic pills such as Xanax.”
    Mooney believes that drug trends among youth tend to operate in cycles.
    “When I was young, the popular drugs in my age group were marijuana and LSD. Now we are seeing a swing toward prescription pills.”
    According to Mooney, one of the reasons prescription pills are so popular among young people is because of their widespread availability.
    “Prescriptions are easy to come by these days. People can go to a doctor and complain about muscle pains or sleeping problems and get any number of prescriptions,” said Mooney.
    Mooney said that the allure of prescription pills for young people is that they mix easily with other substances such as alcohol, marijuana, and other prescriptions.
    “Students know that they can mix a couple of Hydrocodones with alcohol and get an additive effect,” he said. “The problem is that this can lead to a real loss of control, especially with prescriptions like Xanax.”
    Robertson said that prescription pill use is prevalent in Statesboro.
    “I think most students just start doing them because everybody else is. They think it has become a part of the whole college experience," she said.
    Vern Howard, addiction counselor with Bulloch Recovery Services, agrees with this observation.
    “Any time you have an environment where young people are under extreme stress and they have the opportunity to explore new experiences, they are going to turn to substances,” said Howard.
    “I don’t think it is as much about peer pressure as it is peer exposure. The students have greater access to new substances and a lot of them are going to experiment.”
    Howard makes assessments of GSU students charged with drug and alcohol offenses for the courts. He believes that most of the students who have been charged with prescription pill possession are experimenting rather than battling an addiction.
    “The large number of young people who try these drugs eventually move on but there are always a few who become dependent and begin using them as a crutch,” said Howard.
    “When I have a case where the student is losing control, having withdrawals, and continuing the behavior despite negative consequences, that is when I’ll refer him or her to some kind of treatment.”
    Some of Howard’s cases end up at Willingway, where they begin their process of recovery.
    “We try to treat both the mental and physical aspect of addiction,” said Mooney. “Addiction is like an allergy. We don’t try to remove it, we try to help addicts develop a pattern of living that does not lead to recurrent using behavior.”
    Mooney said that one of the most important aspects of recovery is finding a support system. He said the best thing for recovering addicts to do is get involved with the large recovery community in Statesboro which includes groups like Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous.

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