Generation Rx?

I just had a conversation this weekend with friends of mine that were under the false impression that living in the suburbs of an affluent area means that their children would not be exposed to drugs in the same way as those kids in a big city. Ha, I said. I happened to have grown up in this "suburb" and have stories about the types of drugs I was exposed to in highschool. And that was, um, over twenty years ago.. I had one of those looks that said "get your head out of the sand" - and make sure you educate your kids about drugs.

I was happy to hear that in middle school the kids in our school district go through the D.A.R.E. (or drug abuse resistance) program. My son is not quite in middle school, but I decided it was time to start the education process. With the increased use prescription drugs for kids, they really need to be educated early.  Then I got an email about a series on CBS News with Katie Couric called Generation Rx. The series

is on CBS News and it starts tonight:

"GENERATION RX - Teen abuse of prescription drugs has TRIPLED in the past ten years.  We go inside this epidemic for an intimate look at the users, dealers and people trying to fight it.".

The email provided information about Katie Couric's coverage of the following:

"...Part 1 (tonight) is about a college kid abusing ADHD drugs to stay focused and to compete. Tomorrow (Part 2) will be about a 23-year-old addict, whose habit cost his parents everything they'd worked for. Wednesday (Part 3) will be on a young drug dealer that shows us how he worked the strip of pain clinics so prevalent in Florida.  Thursday (Part 4) will cover new treatments (medication that promises to make treatment for prescription drug abuse easier, more private)."

Details will also be available on Couric & Co. blogs , "Battling the Prescription Drug Epidemic" was covered today.