Don’t Swap Joint for Painkillers

16 February 2007

BRUSSELS — Many teenagers can easily buy medicines online or simply find them in their parents’ medical cabinet. According to a newly published US research, while the use of cannabis has gone down in the past several years, the use of painkillers has skyrocketed.

It is unknown whether this statistics is also true for Flemish teenagers, but experts say it most probably is. The Flemish “alcohol and other drug problems association” (VAD) says Flemish surveys always focus on the medical use of painkillers and neglect how they are abused by young people.

There are figures indicating an increase in the use of medicines by teenagers in the past several years, VAD says, and painkillers are at the top of the list.

 [Copyright Expatica News 2007]

Subject: Belgian news