By survey, almost 50% of teens believe that taking prescription drugs is much safer than using illegal street drugs.

What is not known by most of these young people is the risk they are taking by consuming these highly potent and mind-altering drugs. Long-term use of painkillers can lead to dependence, even for people who are prescribed them to relieve a medical condition but eventually fall into the trap of abuse and addiction.

In some cases, the dangers of painkillers don’t surface until it is too late. In 2007, for example, abuse of the painkiller Fentanyl killed more than 1,000 people. The drug was found to be thirty to fifty times more powerful than heroin.
While the use of many street drugs is on a slight decline in the US, abuse of prescription drugs is growing. In 2007, 2.5 million Americans abused prescription drugs for the first time, compared to 2.1 million who used marijuana for the first time.

Among teens, prescription drugs are the most commonly used drugs next to marijuana, and almost half of the teens abusing prescription drugs are taking painkillers.
https://www.drugfreeworld.org/drugfacts/painkillers.html
Mental & Physiological Effects of Painkillers
• constipation
• nausea
• vomiting
• dizziness
• confusion
• addiction
• unconsciousness
• respiratory depression
• increased risk of heart attack
• coma
• death
https://www.drugfreeworld.org/FURL/data/www.drugfreeworld.org/files/truth-about-painkillers-booklet-en.pdf
How Do Drugs Work?
Drugs are essentially poisons. The amount taken determines the effect.

A small amount acts as a stimulant (speeds you up). A greater amount acts as a sedative (slows you down). An even larger amount poisons and can kill.

This is true of any drug. Only the amount needed to achieve the effect differs.

But many drugs have another liability: they directly affect the mind. They can distort the user’s perception of what is happening around him or her. As a result, the person’s actions may be odd, irrational, inappropriate and even destructive.

Drugs block off all sensations, the desirable ones with the unwanted. So, while providing short-term help in the relief of pain, they also wipe out ability and alertness and muddy one’s thinking.

Medicines are drugs that are intended to speed up or slow down or change something about the way your body is working, to try to make it work better. Sometimes they are necessary. But they are still drugs: they act as stimulants or sedatives, and too much can kill you. So if you do not use medicines as they are supposed to be used, they can be as dangerous as illegal drugs.
https://www.drugfreeworld.org/course/lesson/the-truth-about-drugs/why-do-people-take-drugs.html

Through our interactive course you’ll learn the reason why people take drugs in the first place. You’ll also discover basic facts about the most commonly abused drugs. And you’ll hear it from those who lived through the addiction to tell their story. Educate yourself. Get the truth about drugs.
In this course, you’ll learn:
1.How drugs work and how they affect the body and mind;
2.The truth about the most commonly abused drugs and what they do:
3.The lies drug dealers will tell you to turn you into a customer.
Start your Free Course now : https://www.drugfreeworld.org/course/lesson/the-truth-about-drugs/?start=1