Officials say that parental involvement is key to preventing drug abuse

Many law enforcement agencies are urging parents to communicate with their teens to help prevent the spread of recreational prescription medication use. Experts say that many adults feel that drug use is a part of adolescence and that their children will eventually grow out of it. However, non-medical use of medicine may lead some young people into a life of addiction.

For instance, law enforcement officials in Damascus, Maryland recently formed an awareness campaign geared toward showing the importance of parental involvement in preventing adolescent drug abuse, the Maryland Gazette reports.

Officials told the news source that many teenagers have a misconception that prescription medication is not harmful because it is given to them by physicians. As a result, young people in the area are participating in "pharming parties," where they trade medication they obtain from their parents'or grandparents' medicine cabinets.

Law enforcement officials added that when these individuals become addicted to the opiates found in some prescription medication they can turn to street drugs such as heroin to fulfill their needs.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, approximately 15 percent of high school seniors reported using prescription medications recreationally in 2008.