Common Side Effects of Xanax Abuse on the Body, According to Teen Rehab Center

Model Does Not Take Xanax

A student at Olathe East, Jimmy Hampton (name changed for his privacy), used Xanax twice at the beginning of February. He plans to avoid using Xanax again due to the negative effects, despite claims of how fun the Xanax high might be.

“I bought four on…I think it was a Wednesday, and then I took half of one right before fifth hour, or during fifth hour, then I took the other half right before I went to bed, and woke up Thursday, and then during second hour I took the third one, and by Friday I kind of forgot where the last one went. So it’s all just a blur,” Hampton said.

He bought all four blocks of the prescription drug from a dealer for $20, claiming to have been influenced by recent music and songs about taking painkillers. He had no insight on how dealers get the Xanax they sell, but criticized the prescription process.

“It seems kind of ridiculous for people to be getting prescribed to it so easily. Even painkillers for chronic back pain or arthritis, because I know Vicodin and Oxycodone is getting prescribed a lot just like Xanax. And it’s not like there’s one kind also. It’s just at this point there’s other ones in different milligrams and go by different names and everything. So I mean, maybe kids in the school are prescribed to them, but I would kind of doubt it, because if they had any type of depression, they have like hydroxyzine rather than actual Xanax,” he said.

Hampton experienced excessive drowsiness and memory loss surrounding the days he took the drug. In classes where he could not remember his behavior, he asked other students what happened and how he acted. He received the constant explanation of uncharacteristic silence and napping. Later no pain or sickness followed his brief use.

Hampton likely got by easy, according to Teen Rehab Center. He now joins the statistic of one in five high school students using a prescription drug illegally.

Ryan Smith // Online Editor