Teens Overdosing

Teens overdosing on prescription drugs at record numbers

Fentanyl is a pain reliever patch, but like many prescription drugs, teens figure out ways to use them to get high. In David's case, he somehow ingested the gel in the patch, which is 80 times the power of morphine. He went to sleep that night and never woke up.It's one tragic story of dozens in Houston. Teens are dying in record numbers using prescription drugs. "Kids getting whacked out of their mind and just reckless ingestion of chemicals," said a former drug user  we're calling "Johnny." Johnny knows too many people to expose himself, he says. "You've done them, all haven't you?" we asked Johnny. "Oh yeah, I've pretty much done everything under the sun," he said. Johnny's a popular but former, he says, Houston teenage peddler, pusher and user of drugs. "You continue to go to the parties. You see the high school kids out there. What kinds of designer drugs are  they taking today?" we asked him. "They're just taking it because the end result it will make them feel better," he said. "What's the wake up call to parents? What do you want parents to know?" we asked. "That anyone and everybody could be using this drug, could dealing this drug. Parents should be worried  because the availability, the cheapness of them -- 10 bucks a pop, for the experimental chemicals or whatever, acid," Johnny said. "This is cheap allowance money that can get them high?" we asked. "Oh yeah, oh yeah, it's paper route  money," Johnny said. The frightening reality is that these prescription drugs are so easy to get a hold of. The drug David died from  was believed to have been stolen by friends from a grandmother's cabinet. "You understand people are dying because of this?" we asked Johnny. "Yea," he said. "Kids are dying?" we asked. "Kids, yeah," he replied. "You know the users, you know the pushers, you've been at the parties. Why is it you don't expose all of  this?" we asked.  "I don't know. I'm not proud of it," he said. For Mason, exposing his son's drug pushers is an eventual priority. But for now, he just wants to make it  through another week. "That boy made a difference, he made a difference in us," Mason said. He's still trying desperately to understand the unthinkable, the death of a son by prescription drugs. "My son is with Jesus and I have that peace, I have that peace," Mason said. It is such a tragic loss. The strong advice from the father, however, is to talk to your teenagers, explain the  dangers and dead-end road of drugs. Even the seemingly best of kids are getting involved with prescription  drugs. For more information, visit the Teen Drug Abuse website or the National Institute on Drug Abuse  website.