It was supposed to be a short treatment regimen with one Oxycontin tablet every 14 hours after Jon’s knee surgery.

Three years later, Jon is still using the drug. With every day that passes, he is taking it more and more often, spiraling downward into a dependent drug habit, unable to stop.

Before long he is unable to function and often takes two or three in eight-hour periods, crushing them and snorting their powder to get a fast fix.

Scenarios such as Jon’s are becoming a reality all over the nation at an alarming rate.

According to a 2003 survey done by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), 10.5 percent of high school seniors reported using Vicodin for non-medical use. The survey also reported that another 4.5 percent have inappropriately used deadly Oxycontin.

“Teens are abusing all sorts of prescription medicines, from opioids (painkillers), CNS depressants (anxiety and sleep disorder pills) and stimulants (prescribed for ADHD, narcolepsy and obesity),” Clover nurse Pat Ballard said. “Some of the most widely abused are Oxycontin, Valium, Ritalin and Xanax.”

Teens are using these prescription medicines in dangerous, high-risk ways to get the same high as high-grade, straight heroin.

The number of teenagers abusing prescription drugs is rising at an astonishing rate, and experts are afraid that, before long, prescription medicines could be at the head of the drug war.

“Prescription drugs help people manage medical conditions,” Ballard said. “But at the same time,when abused, these same lifesaving medicines can be as addictive and deadly as illegal drugs.”

A recent study conducted by the NIDA found that approximately 9 million Americans have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons this year alone.

With prescription drugs becoming a new gateway drug, teens are finding ways to get them without prescriptions.

“Most teenagers obtain them from their home or from their friends,” CHS Resource Officer Mike Ramsey said. “They can be found in almost any home and are easy to access for many teenagers.

“People are also selling prescription drugs to others,” Ramsey said.

“Students do not think prescription drugs are harmful because they have been prescribed by a doctor,” Ballard said.

Prescription drugs are often not seen as a threat because they are approved by the Federal Drug Administration (FDA). Abusers also mistakenly consider them secure because they are ‘clean’, as they are not mixed with other substances,” Ballard explained.

Teens are also mistaking these drugs as non-addictive drugs.

Teens and adults believe that because these drugs are prescribed to patients by doctors, they are safer to abuse than using ‘street drugs’, marijuana and heroin.

“The fact is that these drugs act just as heroin does,” Ballard said.

One of the quickest spreading prescription drugs is Oxycontin, which often goes by street names such as Oxy, OC, Oxycoffin and Hillbilly Heroin.

Released in 1995, it is a prescription opioid containing a high-dose painkiller that comes tablets that release it in safe rates for 12 hours.

It is often prescribed for cancer patients and patients with chronic pain to help deal with severe pain management.

The NIDA has found that teens are crushing, chewing and snorting these Oxycontin tablets, which cancels out the time-release feature and delivers the full blow of the narcotic into the system.

“The scary thing is that most teens who abuse prescription drugs are not aware that just half of a tablet of the wrong thing can cause death,” Ballard said.

Taking just one Oxycontin or Percocet and receiving the full effects of it all at once is just like shooting high-grade heroin, only it is more addictive and more dangerous. When combined with alcohol, this opiate is often deadly.

“Most teens are not aware of the link between heroin and Oxycontin,” Ballard said.

It’s becoming a more common scenario: someone goes to sleep after receiving the full effect of just one Oxycontin tablet; their respirations start to decrease slowly until breathing stops completely.

As little as half a pill of straight Oxycontin when combined with alcohol or other depressants is enough to kill you.

“The effects of Oxycontin are just as serious and just as real as with heroin, and just like with heroin, it is almost impossible to kick an Oxycontin habit alone once someone has become dependent,” Ballard said. “The withdrawal symptoms are much worse and last longer than heroin.”

There are drug programs detailed specifically for teens that have problems with prescription drug abuse.

According to the NIDA, addiction is a brain disease typically treated with behavioral intervention and drug treatment. Often, a combination of the two treatments is used.

Not only are the bodily costs great, but also there are great legal risks dealing with prescription drug abuse.

“Prescription violations are usually misdemeanors consisting of a $500 fine and/or two years in prison,” Ramsey said.

People who get in trouble with the law because of prescription drugs get in the mess by possessing pills out of the original container, having prescriptions that belong to someone else, or giving or selling prescriptions to other people.

“According to the law, prescription drugs are considered illegal drugs unless they are obtained by a prescription,” Ramsey said. “Which means, unless you are legally using them, these drugs are scheduled or classified as narcotics.”

Violations for these types of drugs range from 1-15 years in prison, and/or $500-$10,000 fines.

“The problem is that these drugs are crucial to patients who need them,” Ballard said. “These people who abuse the drugs are making it much harder for people who absolutely need these medications to get them.”

Teens are abusing these drugs because they are much easier to gain as opposed to other types of street drugs.

“Kids are using prescription drugs just as much as they are using drugs like marijuana, alcohol and ecstasy,” Ramsey said.

Getting caught with these kinds of drugs can be a serious offense. Many teenagers do not associate prescription drugs as a way to get in trouble with the law, but it is becoming more common.

“People abusing these drugs are making a mistake, it unlawful and unhealthy, also these medicines have been tested on individuals both in need of the prescription and those without need of the medicine,” senior David Pritt reasoned. “The long term damage from taking prescription medication not prescribed by a doctor is really detrimental.”

“It’s a real threat. Just half of a tablet of the wrong thing can be enough to stop breathing,” Ballard said. “Some teens are taking 2 to 3 tablets simultaneously. Habits like this will eventually result in death.”