According to the 2008 Monitoring the Future report released this week, seven out of the ten top drugs being abused by high-school seniors are legal prescription or over-the-counter medications. While the number of young people who abuse illegal drugs continues to decline, it’s clear that they’ve simply switched to drugs that are easier to get, won’t land them in jail, and give them nearly as powerful a high.

The report found that 15.4 percent of 12th-grade students reported nonmedical use of legal medications, including 11 percent who misused Vicodin and 4.7 percent who misused Oxycontin. Prescription amphetamines, sedatives, tranquilizers, and the attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder medication Ritalin also were among the most popular drugs of abuse among high-school seniors, along with over-the-counter cough medications. 

And it’s not only young people who’ve made the switch. In my book, America Anonymous, a heroin addict in his 30s from South Boston told me, “People are getting addicted to FDA-approved drugs more than illegal drugs now. With pharmaceuticals, you know what’s in them, and you know you’re going to get a great high. Look at Anna Nicole Smith. She could have had any drugs she wanted, but what was her choice? Methadone and benzos.”