Adults in Marlboro and other area communities may be asking themselves some questions these days.
Questions like, “Are my prescriptions running out faster than I expected?” and “Has my teenager mentioned ‘pharming’ for the upcoming weekend?” If so, the young people are likely not talking about an event involving crops; rather, they are referring to a dangerous new trend among the nation’s youths.
Pharming is a slang term that refers to the use of prescription drugs or over-the-counter drugs to get high, according to information provided by the Marlboro Township Alliance for the Prevention of Substance Abuse and Marlboro Police Department.
Both groups, with help from staff members at Marlboro High School, have planned a seminar titled “What’s Missing From Your Medicine Cabinet … And Other Secrets Your Kids May Be Keeping From You.” The seminar will be held at Marlboro High School, Route 79, Marlboro, at 7 p.m. April 8. Adults from any municipality may attend the free program.
According to The Partnership for A Drug- Free America’s Internet Web site, one in five teenagers has abused a prescription pain medication. Many teenagers think the drugs are safe because they have legitimate uses, but taking the drugs without a prescription to get high or “self-medicate” can be as dangerous and addictive as using street narcotics.
Lt. Douglas Van Note of the Marlboro Police Department’s Community Services Unit said Marlboro has its share of drug problems, but unlike the situation in urban areas, the dealing and use are done behind closed doors.
Special Agent Douglas Collier of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will be speaking at the seminar with the goal of making parents aware of this problem and providing them with information on ways to notice an addiction and how to help.
Collier is heading up the “Pharming in the Garden State” program, which focuses on making parents more aware of legal drugs that are being taken illegally. This program is just a piece of an overall initiative, “Medicine for Success” by Gerard P. McAleer, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s New Jersey division.
Van Note and Marlboro Alliance Coordinator Nancy Geist sat down with GreaterMedia Newspapers last week and went over the plan for April 8. The night will be divided into two parts, with the first hour featuring a presentation by Collier. During the second hour a questionand answer session will be held with a panel of experts on hand.
Sitting on the panel will be Collier, Van Note, Marlboro Middle School psychologist Nancy Asher Shultz, Marlboro High School student assistance counselor Ronnie Clerico-Knittel, Linda Surks of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), Barbara Sprechman, who is the director of community services for Prevention First, and two high school students.
“We have been taught to lock our liquor cabinets, but we have not been told to do the same with the medicine cabinet,” Collier said.
Prescription pills are not just being supplied from the home, Van Note said, explaining that some pills can be ordered over the Internet without a prescription. He said this is a dangerous practice since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would not regulate the pills.
Collier described one type of a party at which teenagers who have taken pills from the family medicine cabinet bring the pills to the gathering. At the party the teenagers toss all of the pills into a bowl and a game of truth or dare ensues with the teens sampling various pills, Collier said.
Abusing painkillers is like abusing heroin because their ingredients (both opiods) are very similar, The Partnership for A Drug-Free America reports. OxyContin is an example of one of these drugs, which Van Note said could run between $20 and $30 per tablet.With that high of a cost for one pill, a teenager may switch to heroin because it is cheaper, the officer said, adding that heroin is an accessible drug throughout the area.
Collier said visits to hospital emergency rooms have increased 25 percent for prescription drug abuse overdoses.
“We’re never going to get it out of town, but we want it out of our schools,” Van Note said, adding that Gerald North, the principal of Marlboro High School, has been very helpful in facilitating the April 8 program. The lieutenant said all of the groups that are involved in the seminar believe in addressing the issue in public and overcoming the problem through education.
Not all teenagers are abusing drugs, Geist noted, but she said it is important for parents to be aware of the problem and to know what signs to look for.
The April 8 event at Marlboro High School is open to all adults. Anyone with questions about the evening may contact theMarlboroAlliance at (732) 617-0100 or Van Note at (732) 617-0186.

