Social Branding - Gov't Looks to "Teen Influencers" to Curb Increased Pill Abuse

Gov't Looks to "Teen Influencers" to Curb Increased Pill Abuse

Written by Andrew Ermlick

Thursday, 12 November 2009

In an ADHD society propelled by sound bites, quick cuts, and rapid fire text messaging, it’s no wonder that our minds can feel a bit overwhelmed by the hysteria. Instead of pulling the plug on our television sets or generally slowing down a bit to gain focus, we’ve saddled up to the pharmacy and push Rx bottles into our increasingly crowded medicine cabinets. It’s no wonder that teens are snooping around their parents’ shelves and chucking back some pills to see what the big deal is. Now, the The National Council on Patient Information and Education (NCPIE), along with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) are launching an educational campaign called Maximizing Your Role as a Teen Influencer: What You Can Do to Help Prevent Teen Prescription Drug Abuse to educate family and community members about how to identify and interact with teenagers that may be experimenting with prescription drugs.

Statistics show that teen alcohol and illicit drug use has declined since 2002, which is encouraging. That doesn’t mean, however, that teens aren’t getting high. Consider these facts:

+ More than 1 in 10 teens (or 2.8 million) have abused prescription drugs in their lifetimes according to SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

+ 1 in 3 teens report knowing someone who abuses prescription drugs according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s 2007 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study.

+ 1 in 3 teens surveyed says there is “nothing wrong” when using prescription drugs “every once and a while.” according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America’s 2007 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study.

+ Every day, 2,700 teens abuse a prescription drug for the first time according to SAMHSA’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

+ 8 out of 10 teens who misuse prescription drugs get the drugs from friends or relatives through a number of means including stealing, buying or simply asking for the drugs according to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America‘s 2007 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study.

NCPIE and SAMHSA are counting on Maximizing Your Role as a Teen Influencer: What You Can Do to Help Prevent Teen Prescription Drug Abuse to combat these jarring figures. The campaign consists of an online toolkit, featuring pledge cards, slide show presentations, brochures, and other such media that aim educate “teen influencers,” like parents, teachers, etc, on the extent of the pill popping problem, what motivates teens to expirement with Rx pills, and how the influencers can engage teens in an open dialogue.

Will this campaign work? Raising awareness around this rather new issue is the first step, and I hope that NCPIE and SAMHSA are successful. But I feel that there are other “teen influencers,” like their friends, their peer role models, their social network friends, and the media that are influencing teens to a greater extent. Popping pills is celebrated in a host of current rap songs, so much so that terms like “thizzin” and “rolling” are already played out. Until the underlying motivations, social context, and other identity issues are addressed, I don’t think we’ll see a marked drop in teen pill abuse.