Teens getting high at prescription drug pill parties

Prescription drugs are the new party pills kids and teens are popping to get high. Pills strong enough for cancer patients are being used at school and at pill parties where pills are passed around in bowls or bags.

The majority of kids are getting the drugs at home.

“My parents had a very extensive medicine cabinet,” said one girl.

Pharmacists say one really good way to keep an eye on your drugs is with a blister pack. That way, if one of the pills is missing, you know something's up.

Jenny's mom was a nurse. Her medicine cabinet was full of anti-depressants and pain killers. At eight years old Jenny became an addict.

“The first thing I started doing was going through her nurse handbook and figuring out what things would mix with what for certain side effects. Just a little bit of chemistry,” said Jenny.

Ken has been an addict since he was ten. He says he got his pills from home or bought them at school. But he says there are actually pharmacists who supply kids with pills too.

“If you snitch on somebody it's over. You're either going to end up in a hospital, in a wheelchair, or you're gonna end up dead,” said Ken said. Thats if the drugs don't kill you first.

The Fintanyl patch, which releases a very strong painkiller into your blood stream over several days, is very popular among teens.

“Some parents, unfortunately, do share with their children on a regular basis,” says North Little Rock pharmacist John Tipton.

Teens like the patches because they're easy to hide under clothes. Tipton says this can be a deadly mistake.

“They can actually remove the medicine from the patch and inject it. Some people are also smoking it. And there are numerous deaths caused by this because it causes respiratory depression and can certainly kill you,” said Tipton.

In Arkansas, kids as young as 11 years-old are being treated at the Addiction Research Center on the campus of UAMS.

“The kids feed off each other and say 'why don't you try these? Oh, where did you get them? Well, my parents have this. Oh, I wonder if my parents have them,'" said Dr. Alan Budney with UAMS.

That's why experts say it's vital to stay connected to your kids. Keep your medicine locked up and the lines of communication open.

“The more you talk about it, the more you have a chance of being alert to what they're feeling and thinking and perhaps catching things at the early stage,” said Dr. Budney.