Dangerous Trades

A recent post on the blog DestinationRX draws attention to the fact that students as young as middle school are trading their prescription drugs for alcohol, or other prescription drugs. The post references an eFlux Media article that details how 15 students at a Boulder, Colorado middle school were busted for a trading scam that involved the ADHD drugs Strattera and Concerta, and alcohol.

As the author of the post points out, middle school kids used to trade baseball cards. How is that we have arrived at prescription drugs instead of baseball cards? When I was in middle school (1987-1989), I didn’t know anyone taking any sort of prescription medicine whatsoever. In fact, I remember finding out that my little cousin was taking Ritalin for ADHD and feeling horrified that “it had come to such drastic measures.” I think at that time, the concept of feeding kids strong prescription meds was still relatively foreign. Today, it’s as regular as signing your kids up for soccer. I guess that’s why kids have no problem trading their drugs like baseball cards.