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More young abusing prescription drugs: A growing number of teen-agers and young adults are abusing prescription drugs, a government report says, with non-medical use of pain relievers and tranquilizers reaching record highs.
Based on survey figures, in 2001, 2.75 million young people, age 12 to 17, are estimated to have used prescription drugs for non-medical reasons at least once, the government said. The year before, the number in the same age group was 2.5 million. The number of new users has been climbing since the mid-1980s, the report said.