What is a Pharm Party?
http://www.countywomanmagazines.com/articles/111/1/What-is-a-Pharm-Party-/Page1.html
Naomi L. Hubbard
Camden County Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, Inc. (CCCADA) is a private, nonprofit organization in partnership with other local and county individuals and organizations. CCCADA's Mission is to promote awareness of alcohol, drugs and tobacco and to encourage early intervention and knowledge of the availability of treatment throughout Camden County. CCCADA seeks to:
Prevent: the disease of alcoholism, drug abuse and related problems
Educate: the public that alcoholism, drug abuse and related problems are treatable and preventable
Encourage: early identification, intervention, treatment and continuum of care for alcoholism, drug abuse and related problems
By Naomi L. Hubbard
Published on February 9, 2009
Today when young people talk about a “Pharm Party” they are not necessary referring to a Keg party at someone’s barn out on the family farm. The new term “Pharm Party” refers to a party where prescription drugs are readily available in a potentially deadly mixture. The term “Pharm Party” is short for pharmaceuticals, which includes such drugs as Xanax, a strong tranquilizer and a powerful painkiller like Vicodin and Oxycontin. Often times mind altering psychotropic drugs like Zoloft, Prozac, and Wiltbutrin, commonly advertised on television, are taken in consent with other powerful pain pills and tranquilizers at these pharmaceutical cocktail parties. Pharm partygoers often refer to the potentially lethal concoction as “Trail Mix”. The “Trail Mix” is usually served up in large bowls or baggies and handed out to a guest in the same fashion as a hostess serves snacks and drinks at a cocktail party.
Youth Trade Drugs at Pharming Parties:
Prescribed Ritalin, Oxycontin stolen from medicine cabinets at home and other psychoactive drugs are the stock and trade at so-called “Pharming Parties” where young people trade medicine and often mix pills with alcohol to get high.
Time reported that even as use of “hard” illicit drugs like heroin and cocaine has declined in recent years, abuse of narcotic painkillers and stimulants has skyrocketed. An estimated 2.3 million kids ages 12-17 abused legal medications last year, according to the Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
“It’s a hidden epidemic,” says Dr. Nicholas Pace of New York University Medical Center. Parents don’t want to admit there is a problem out there.
At Pharming Parties, like the one recently held in suburban New Jersey, painkillers like Oxycontin which can produce a strong high, but also present a great danger of overdose, are highly valued. “If I have something good, like oxycodine, it might be worth two or three Xanax,” said a 17 year old at this New Jersey party. “We rejoice when someone has a medical thing, like get pills. Last year I had gum surgery and I thought, well, at last I’ll get painkillers.”
“When adults and medical professionals treat addictions casually, we need not be surprised that adolescents are treating them casually,” said Francis Hayden, director of the Adolescent Mental Health Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
This important message is brought to you by the Camden County Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, Inc. & Drug Rehab That Works.
Attributions are made to Join Together: Join Together is a project of Boston University School of Public Health (web-site) http://www.drugrehabthatworks.com/Pharm-/party.htm
Today when young people talk about a “Pharm Party” they are not
necessary referring to a Keg party at someone’s barn out on the family
farm. The new term “Pharm Party” refers to a party where prescription
drugs are readily available in a potentially deadly mixture.
What is a Pharm Party? (It’s not a Keg Party out on the farm!)
Today when young people talk about a “Pharm Party” they are not necessary referring to a Keg party at someone’s barn out on the family farm. The new term “Pharm Party” refers to a party where prescription drugs are readily available in a potentially deadly mixture. The term “Pharm Party” is short for pharmaceuticals, which includes such drugs as Xanax, a strong tranquilizer and a powerful painkiller like Vicodin and Oxycontin. Often times mind altering psychotropic drugs like Zoloft, Prozac, and Wiltbutrin, commonly advertised on television, are taken in consent with other powerful pain pills and tranquilizers at these pharmaceutical cocktail parties. Pharm partygoers often refer to the potentially lethal concoction as “Trail Mix”. The “Trail Mix” is usually served up in large bowls or baggies and handed out to a guest in the same fashion as a hostess serves snacks and drinks at a cocktail party. Youth Trade Drugs at Pharming Parties:
Prescribed Ritalin, Oxycontin stolen from medicine cabinets at home and other psychoactive drugs are the stock and trade at so-called “Pharming Parties” where young people trade medicine and often mix pills with alcohol to get high.
Time reported that even as use of “hard” illicit drugs like heroin and cocaine has declined in recent years, abuse of narcotic painkillers and stimulants has skyrocketed. An estimated 2.3 million kids ages 12-17 abused legal medications last year, according to the Center of Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
“It’s a hidden epidemic,” says Dr. Nicholas Pace of New York University Medical Center. Parents don’t want to admit there is a problem out there.
At Pharming Parties, like the one recently held in suburban New Jersey, painkillers like Oxycontin which can produce a strong high, but also present a great danger of overdose, are highly valued. “If I have something good, like oxycodine, it might be worth two or three Xanax,” said a 17 year old at this New Jersey party. “We rejoice when someone has a medical thing, like get pills. Last year I had gum surgery and I thought, well, at last I’ll get painkillers.”
“When adults and medical professionals treat addictions casually, we need not be surprised that adolescents are treating them casually,” said Francis Hayden, director of the Adolescent Mental Health Center at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City.
This important message is brought to you by the Camden County Council on Alcoholism & Drug Abuse, Inc. & Drug Rehab That Works.
Attributions are made to Join Together: Join Together is a project of Boston University School of Public Health (web-site) http://www.drugrehabthatworks.com/Pharm-/party.htm