Teens who play sports are less likely than those who don’t to say they’ve ever used opioid painkillers without a prescription or heroin, according to a new U.S. study.
Researchers also found that opioid and heroin use declined among teen sports players between 1997 and 2014, a period when overall use of these drugs was increasing in the U.S.
Young athletes, in general, are less likely than their nonparticipating peers to use illicit substances like cocaine or LSD, said lead author Philip Veliz of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
“What was surprising were the decreasing trends in both lifetime prevalence of nonmedical use of prescription opioids and heroin use among athletes and nonathletes during a period when the prescribing of opioid medication increased,” Veliz told Reuters Health by email.
Past research has found that athletes have a higher than average likelihood of being exposed to opioids as a result of injuries. Although that puts them at risk of abusing the drugs, little is known about whether it also raises the risk of using heroin, the authors write in Pediatrics… Read More>>
Source: Reuters
