Drug use among children growing concern

GREEN BAY - The use of illegal drugs among children is a growing concern for area substance abuse treatment programs.

On Friday, it became known that nine Pulaski High School students were expelled for allegedly selling prescription drugs to other students. The drugs officials say were being sold were Adderall and Vyvanse, which are used to treat those diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder or ADHD.

Police are recommending charges against ten teenagers.

Substance abuse counselors say the fact that seven of the students were in 9th grade is a concern that illegal drug use is moving further into younger and younger age groups.

"I think it's a very legitimate concern to ask, 'how young is the first use of drugs?'" explained Barbara Coniff, director of Libertas Treatment Center in Green Bay, an in-patient and out-patient substance abuse facility.

She says drug use among adolescents is still high when it comes to more traditionally seen drugs. But she says the facility sees more and more patients are skewing younger, sometimes starting drug use at the age of nine years old.

"We're seeing that marijuana remains popular with teens. We're also seeing an increase in cough medicine and over the counter drugs. We too have noted, of prescription drug abuse, of the stimulants and other prescription drugs."

According to a 2011 survey by the Centers for Disease Control, more than 25 percent of roughly 15,000 private and public high schoolers asked, admitted to having offered, sold or given an illegal drug by someone on school property.

That was a three percent increase from 2009.

That same study shows about 20 percent admitted to using pain killers, stimulants (like Adderall) or other mood altering drugs one or more times, without a prescription in 2009.

Two years later, that number crept up slightly. And in Wisconsin, about 18 percent of teens surveyed - roughly 3,000 - admitted to misusing prescription drugs.

Coniff says the recent events in Pulaski should raise red flags.

"We are seeing an increase in earlier use and then what that means is that history of use is continuing throughout the adolescent years and into high school," said Coniff.

She says parents must understand they still play a role in ensuring their medications, or their child's are used properly.

"Even as a child becomes a teenager, grows in responsibility, that parents want to allow that child to have a certain amount of responsibility as a part of growing up. At the same time, we, as parents, are still responsible for their medications."

FOX 11 reached out to both Brown County Drug Task Force and the Lake Winnebago MEG Unit for this story.

Neither was available for comment.