INDIANAPOLIS -
Indiana teenagers are taking more prescription drugs than ever and you may be surprised where they're getting the pills.
Our state now ranks as the second worst in America for prescription drug abuse. The drugs now outrank marijuana and alcohol as the most-abused substance in Indiana.
A study conducted through Indiana University of 138,000 Indiana high school students suggests that teenagers are not going into the streets for drugs. What they are looking for is often times just a few feet away in the family medicine cabinet.
The tattoos on the arms of 24-year-old Samantha Snyder tell a story, some from a time from which she has almost no memory.
"Places I thought I would never wind up," she said.
When Snyder was a freshman in high school, she says she started using and abusing prescription drugs.
"In terms of high school, I started off abusing pills as a freshman and ended up smoking crack as a senior," Snyder said.
Her addiction lasted almost ten years and she has been clean for more than year now. She started using prescription drugs in the same way many kids do - they think it's safe.
"I definitely had no idea of the harm I was doing to myself," she said.
According to the Indiana University study, it is that very thinking among teenagers that has driven prescription drug abuse among Indiana high school students to the second-highest in the nation.
"That it is okay, it is prescribed by a doctor, it is not a hard drug, it is not heroin. It can be just as hard, but that perception is there. I didn't buy it from a dealer, it is not cocaine, it is just mom's post-surgery meds," said Courtney Stewart, Indiana Prevention Center.
Some of the factors leading to the increase is the overall health of the state.
"Our state, in general, does not have a high quality of health. We are ranked 38th, so we're not a healthy state," said Stewart.
The report also shows teenagers are turning away from marijuana, smoking and alcohol.
"Teenagers are replacing it with other things, which are probably quite a bit more dangerous than marijuana," said James Mowry, Indiana Poison Control Center.
Mowry is referring to recently-banned synthetic substances like K2, Spice and bath salts. Indiana teenagers, according to the study, are using heroin at two times the national average.
"It's much easier to hide. If you're drinking or if you're smoking marijuana, you can smell that. A pill, you take it and it's gone. There's no smell, there's no nothing," Snyder said.
Spotting prescription drug abuse
Samantha Snyder fought drug addiction for 10 years.
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