Drug experts worry about deadly mixture of prescription and street drugs

March 31, 2000
Web posted at: 11:55 p.m. EST (0455 GMT)

LAKE RONKONOMA, New York (CNN) -- Drug enforcement authorities are concerned about the use of potent new drug cocktails that combines prescription medicine and street drugs.

	VIDEO
CNN's Frank Buckley looks into the drug-mixing trend. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

The new type of abuse, which drug experts call "pharmacological roulette," is being noticed among high school and college students, and is potentially deadly. Police in Hartford, Connecticut believe the death of a Trinity College student may have involved mixing various prescription medicines with other types of drugs.

Although experts don't know if the pattern of abuse is growing, one survey at the University of Wisconsin found one in five students had tried illicit prescription drugs.

Both drug experts and recovering teen-agers at the Phoenix House Treatment Center in Lake Ronkonoma, New York, tell CNN'S Frank Buckley that obtaining the drugs is as easy as going to the drugstore, buying from sellers on the street or ordering from the Internet.

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Stop Drugs
  • Drugs and Youth
Phoenix House Treatment Center
Trinity College
University of Wisconsin
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
Center On Addiction and Substance Abuse

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