Drug trade: Vicodin, OxyContin abuse rises nearly 350 percent among college students

By: Dan Thalker

Posted: 5/10/07

When Ryan Walsh ran out of marijuana last month, he took some Vicodin instead.

A friend of his had a broken leg and a surplus of prescription painkillers. It was too convenient for Walsh to pass up.

"I wanted to get fucked up," the Syracuse University sophomore said.

College students' recreational use of opioids - drugs such as Vicodin, Percocet and OxyContin - rose 342.9 percent between 1993 and 2005, according to a study released by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. They've now been used by 240,000 students, or 3.1 percent of all college students. Prescription stimulants, such as Adderall and Ritalin, increased to 2.9 percent, or 225,000 students.

Tibor Palfai, professor of drugs and human behavior, said the trend is unsurprising precisely for the reasons Walsh cited.

"These are rather pleasant and safe drugs," Palfai said. "The trouble is you can get hooked on them." These drugs are being prescribed more frequently, which makes them easier for potential recreational users to find, Palfai said.

It isn't even a matter of Vicodin providing a better high, Walsh said. "I wouldn't say people prefer them," he said. "It's just what's available."

Psychology professor Steve Maisto said this increased prescription will most likely make prescription drug use even more popular in the next few years. "I don't think it will change real quickly," he said. "It anything, the rate of prescription will go up."

Maisto and Palfai both said prescription drugs don't seem overly prominent at SU.

"I think SU is typical of private universities," Maisto said. Maisto also said he doesn't think this new drug trend will have major long-term consequences.

"For many years, different substances cycle in and out of popularity," Maisto said. "Trends show, over the long run, once in their later 20s, (students') drug use and alcohol use tends to decrease. Most will not have long-term problems."

That does not, however, mean Vicodin is a harmless drug.

Prescription opioids are similar to morphine and codeine, and are just as addicting, Palfai said. For that reason, education is the best way to prevent students abusing these drugs.

"Any drug can be abused," Palfai said. "It's up to the people - it's not the drug's fault. It's the people you should be worried about, not the drugs."

Walsh said he has seen the results of uneducated drug use and is more careful as a result. "I would never mix alcohol and pills," he said.

Walsh said a kid at his school took pills then drank and died as a result. As long as people are careful and use them in moderation, Walsh said there's nothing wrong with the occasional recreational pill popping. He said he has used pills fewer than 10 times, and none of his friends are addicted to them.

"Kids are always going to be using drugs," he said. "Whatever's available, they're probably going to do."

While Palfai knows of multiple cases where students became addicted to Vicodin or OxyContin, he said they are safer than many alternatives. Unlike cocaine and heroin, "you can take them a long time and it doesn't affect you physically," Palfai said. "I think it's a shift in the right direction."

While he said the trend will probably continue, Palfai said he hopes eventually a much safer drug becomes widely available. "They'll come up with a designer drug and it won't be addictive, or maybe ecstasy will come back after people find it's not as bad as the government said," Palfai said.

In the meantime, Palfai said people will always use or abuse drugs. "It's going to happen for the rest of the world's life," he said.