Drug Abuse and the Internet

Non-medical use of highly addictive prescription drugs, like Vicodin and Oxycontin, by adolescents is a growing threat. In 2009, 1 in 10 high school seniors reported using Vicodin non-medically in the past year (Monitoring the Future Survey 2009). At the same time, the number of pharmacies that illegally sell these drugs without prescription over the internet is rapidly increasing.

This website is a resource for learning more about abuse of prescription drugs and the internet’s role as a supplier of these drugs. You will find information about domestic and international responses to these problems as well as an innovative public-private collaboration that aims to Keep Internet Neighborhoods Safe (KINS). Since 2005, a group of distinguished private businessmen and key government officials have discussed new strategies to curtail illegal internet sales of addictive drugs to young people.

•For more about the problem, click here to read the Policy White Paper.

•For more information on non-medical use of prescription drugs and availability over the internet, click here to read Drug Strategies' review of the current research literature.

•Click here to read an opinion piece on this issue published in the Washington Post.




Drug Strategies 1616 P Street, N.W. Suite 220, Washington, D.C. 20036 202-939-0664 drugstrategies@gmail.com