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I am 17, soon to be 18, and I have personally witnessed the horrors of prescription drug use and abuse in teens. The person who went through prescription drug abuse and addiction wasn't a friend, or a friend of a friend, or even a relative. It was me. When I was 13, I began using prescription drugs like percocet and darvocet. Eventually, those pills didn't offer enough relief from the pain that I was trying to escape, so I began using vicodin, morphine, and valium. Eventually that wasn't enough either, so I began taking oxy contin instead. That hit the spot-or so I thought.

I was 15 when I began using oxy contin and I never realized that I was addicted until it was too late. I overdose on pills in April of 2005 and had to spend a week in the psychiatric ward at a local hospital. My brush with death scared me out of wanting to use drugs anymore, so I made the conscious decision to quit everything (drugs and alcohol abuse).

The first few months of withdrawal were the worst, and I wouldn't wish the symtoms and thoughts of it on anyone. I shook all of the time and suffered from nausea, muscle spasms, fatigue, etc.

During the course of my prescription drug usage, I nearly destroyed my relationships with all of the people around me. I withdrew from everyone and stayed to myself for the most part. My grades in school dropped dramatically and roller coastered up and down throughout the years. Throughout my "drugged" days, I had "friendships" and romantic "relationships" with some of the worst people that you will ever meet. One of my boyfriends consciously decided that I wasn't "moving" fast enough for him, so he threw me down his basement stairs and proceeded to rape me.

Some how, through out all of this, I have managed to sober up and be as normal as expected. I still have memory breaks when I am talking and have to take a minute to recollect my thoughts and I still have my moments when I really want to dive into drugs again, but I know that in the end, that isn't what is best for me.

Understand that not all teens are drunken druggies doomed to ruin their lives and the lives of the people around them. Teens need freedom, trust, and responsibility, or they will never grow up. If they are never allowed trust and freedom, when they are faced with a major choice (like drugs, alcohol, or sex), they won't be able to make the best possible decision.

Learn more about this author, Corey Pike.
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