From Senior, Female:
I do not think I know of anybody who has misused over the counter medicine, which is a good thing. Not having a very high usage rate cannot be mistaken for unimportance. Luckily only 1.7% of Clinton students grades 7-12 reported having used pain medication. We believe this to be accredited to the fairly high perception of harm. Peer disapproval is around the same as perception of harm.
Personally I do not understand the appeal and would never try prescription drugs. I think I can accredit this to my education of the harms whereas some may not know the possible dangers. It is understandable that people may believe if their grandmother takes it then it must be safe for them too, which is obviously false.
Once again, the best thing we can do is educate. Many students, such as myself, may be completely unaware what many over the counter medications are and how dangerous they can be when wrongfully used. Prescription drugs are a substance that seems to get sweeped under the carpet often since they are not one of the ¨main ones.¨ We need to bring light to the importance of understanding dangers of abuse.