Prescription Drug Abuse Among Ontario Teens Has Doubled Since 2019

Prescription Drug Abuse Among Ontario Teens Has Doubled Since 2019
High school students in London, Ont., in a file photo. Geoff Robins/AFP via Getty Images
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Recreational prescription drug use among Ontario’s youth has nearly doubled in the past five years, according to a new report.

Nearly 22 percent of students in grades 7–12 reported using prescription painkillers last year for non-medical purposes, up from 11 percent in 2019 and 12.7 percent in 2021, a newly released report from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) found.