Authorities, providers monitor youths' access to prescription drugs.(White House Office of National Drug Control Policy )

With prescription medications continuing to have a more prominent standing on the list of drugs of abuse in surveys of young people, those who work with children are closely monitoring youths' growing access to prescription drugs. At the same time, they are trying to combat the tendency for parents and others not to grasp the potential seriousness of this problem.

Even in the face of medication use that is not as indicated and involves someone other than the person for whom the drug was prescribed, "There is a perception in our culture that if it's prescribed, it's OK," Ariel Johanna Cohen, director of health services for Hazelden's Center for Youth and Families, told ADAW.

National and state-based surveys in recent years have shown that for many youths, prescription drugs have begun to supplant street drugs as their favored source of a high. A report released in February by the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) indicated that prescription medications are the most popular drug of abuse among …