Where drug abuse once meant the stereotype of illegal drugs, it now includes abuse of prescription drugs.

Oklahoma was recently ranked worst in the nation for pain reliever abuse by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The information came from a survey of 136,110 Americans ages 12 and older to track state-by-state substance use and mental health patterns.

Janet Petty, prevention resource coordinator at Bill Willis Community Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, said the most commonly-abused prescriptions are Lortab, OxyContin and Vicodin.

“This is an emerging drug trend. Among 12th graders in Cherokee and Wagoner counties, 20 percent are abusing prescription drugs on a daily basis. The problem is access. Right now, most of them are getting them at home or at a relative’s house.”

Petty said research shows 18.3 percent are getting prescriptions for pain relievers like Lortab from a physician. Only 4.5 buy them from a drug dealer.

“As for why they are using them, the reasons are: as a pain reliever, to sleep, to deal with anxiety, or to get high,” she said. “Teens think they’re safe; that it’s not addictive if they got it from a physician. But adolescents are more likely than young adults to become dependent on these prescriptions.”

Petty said she doesn’t think adults are aware of the severe possibility of overdose. She said young people are so influenced by their peers that if they get a headache they’ll say, “Mom, can I have a Lortab?” because that’s what they’re hearing from friends. Or, they are seeing what adults are using.

She ranks the entire problem as an extremely serious social issue.

“We talk about alcohol, tobacco and marijuana as ‘gateway drugs’ where young people start experimenting,” she said. “Prescription drugs are about to knock marijuana out of that third place as a gateway drug. With alcohol, tobacco and marijuana, we have told young people over and over that it is wrong. But we haven’t really talked to them about prescription drugs. We are a ‘fix it now’ society. We want to just take a pill to make a problem go away.”

As for prevention, Petty said the first and most simple thing to do is take away the access.

“First off, lock up your meds,” she said. “Adults locked up medicines when the children were small. Now they need to do it when they are teens. And adults need to stop giving their prescription drugs to other people. I think physicians need to be educated on the problem of prescription drug overuse. I just think all adults need to be aware of the problem.”

The SAMHSA report providing analyses of substance use and mental health patterns occurring in each state revealed wide variations among the states in problems like illicit drug use and underage drinking, but that no state was immune from these problems. For example, past month use of alcohol among persons aged 12 to 20 ranged from a low of 21.5 percent in Utah to a high of 38.3 percent in Vermont. Yet Utah had the highest level of people age 18 or older reporting serious psychological distress in the past year, while Hawaii had the lowest level. In 2005-06, Oklahoma had the highest percentage of persons aged 12 or older using pain relievers for nonmedical purposes in the past year.

Special District Judge Robin Adair said he sees many defendants linked to drug abuse.