THURSDAY, June 3 (HealthDay News) -- One in five high school
students in the United States has taken a prescription
medication that was not prescribed for them, a new survey shows.
Conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the survey covers a variety of risky behaviors among
"We are very concerned that 20 percent of high school students
are reporting this behavior," said survey author Danice K.
Eaton, a research scientist at the CDC. "It can be dangerous to
take a prescription drug that hasn't been prescribed to you."
Studies have shown that taking non-prescribed prescription drugs
can lead to overdose, addiction and death, Eaton explained.
"Taking a prescription drug that hasn't been prescribed to you
is a health risk behavior," she said. In the survey, 16,460 high
school students were asked if they had ever taken prescription
drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin, Adderall, Ritalin or
Xanax, without a doctor's The abuse of prescription drugs was
widest among whites at 23 percent