A drug prevention specialist who works with teenagers suggests students are the best ambassadors of the “just say no” approach to drug use. Katie Brown meets with students and student athletes in schools in both Jasper and Polk Counties. “Students listen to other students a lot more than they listen to adults,” Brown says. Brown is warning parents and school administrators about so-called “pharm” parties where students take prescription drugs they’ve stolen from home, dump them all into a bowl, mix the pills up and then take out a handful.

“Which is very, very dangerous,” she says. “We know there are lots of side effects to those (prescription drugs).” A federal report issued this week found about two percent of teenagers surveyed in 2014 had abused prescription drugs. That continues a decline in the abuse of narcotic painkillers over the past decade. Smoking rates among teens are dropping as well. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health did find a drop in the number of teenagers who see marijuana use as dangerous.

(Radio Iowa)