Prescription Drugs Breeding Generation of Do-Nothings in Fresno

Fresno, CA – Prescription drugs have become a major problem in Fresno, as many valley teens turn to their parents medicine cabinets during tough economic and social times. Never has there been a time in recent history where access to prescription medications has been so easy for teenagers.

Most people think of drug abuse as something that happens on the streets and in the alleyways of the inner city, but this rash of prescription drug abuse is deeply engrained in the Northern Suburbs of Fresno.

Finding a teenager in North Fresno who doesn’t know what drugs like Oxycontin or Xanax are is somewhat of a challenge in today’s prescription drug climate, as many of them have lost friends to addiction or overdoses.

At a time when many Valley teenagers are just beginning to understand the harm that methamphetamine can bring to their lives, many feel safe abusing prescription drugs because they were made professionally and prescribed by a doctor. This unfortunately isn’t the case, as not even methamphetamine can match the addictive qualities found in high power opiates and benzodiazepines such as Oxycontin, Fentanyl, and Xanax.

The Oxycontin plight has taken the most victims recently, with hordes of valley teenagers trying to come up with ways to support this expensive habit. A single Oxycontin pill can fetch as much as $50 on the streets of North Fresno, and maintaining a daily habit at those prices has many teens turning to crime. Unfortunately, the people feeling the effects of this crime are often the addicts’ friends and family, usually the most accessible people to steal from.

Furthermore, these teens are learning terrible economic values as they try to raise their daily $50. The value of money is going down in the eyes of these individuals, and it’s easy to see why when their daily habit costs as much as a part time worker would make in a day. Instead of getting and keeping jobs, which can be hard for a drug addict, they turn to other more convenient sources of money, such as pawning family members belongings.

It’s the sad truth that many of these individuals will probably not make it to adulthood, but those that do are going to face incredible hardships trying to come back into the economic reality of things. The City of Fresno and Mayor Alan Autry have started Addicted.com to help valley teens experiencing addiction, but many believe that more is needed.

If these people’s lifestyles and morals cannot be corrected early on in the progress, we will be dealing with a wave of adult criminals in the coming years that will do anything to support their expensive habits.

The bottom line: Parents, please keep your prescription meds locked up. Your children are curious and you need to fight that curiosity through drug education (not scare tactics, actual education) and by taking precautions to keep prescription medications unavailable to your children. This is a plague affecting our lovely city, and everyone must do their part to put an end to it.