Experts: Pills chic among young people

NEW YORK, July 5 (UPI) -- Pills such as ones allegedly found in Al Gore III's possession are fast becoming the drug of choice among America's young people, drug abuse experts said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if right now at this point in time, there are more kids abusing prescription drugs than abusing marijuana," Joseph A. Califano Jr. -- chairman and president of the National Center on Alcohol and Substance Abuse at Columbia University in New York -- told CNN.

Gore was arrested Wednesday in California on charges of possessing marijuana and the prescription drugs Vicodin, Xanax, Valium and Adderall.

A CASA report said that between 1993 and 2005 the percentage of college students abusing Vicodin and other opiates rose 343 percent, or about 240,000 individuals. The numbers increased 450 percent, or by 170,000 students, for tranquilizers such as Xanax and Valium -- and 93 percent, or 225,000 students, for stimulants, including Adderall.

"Prescription drugs are very easy for kids to get," Califano said. "They can get them from the Internet. They can get them from their parents' medicine cabinets. They can get them from their friends."

Drug-makers, parents and anti-drug campaigns should refocus on prescription drug abuse, he said.