Pills, Thrills and Bellyaches: Case Studies of Prescription Pill Use and Misuse among Marijuana/Blunt Smoking Middle Class Young Women

Abstract

Recent survey research has documented important increases during the 2000s in the misuse and abuse of several prescription drugs (Vicodin, Percocet, Codeine, Dilaudid, Xanax, Klonopin, Valium, Ativan, Adderall, Ritalin, among others). This article focuses upon the patterns of pill use and misuse among young women who are middle-class white and college-educated, and they are also experienced marijuana users who report recreational consumption of other illegal drugs. The ethnographic data provides insights about various ways and reasons that such prescription pill misuse occurs among 12 college-educated, (upper) middle-class, white/Asian women in their 20s who were involved in a major ethnographic study of marijuana and blunts. Three patterns of pill use were observed: recreational; quasi-medical; and legal medical; shifts among these patterns of pill use was common. Few reported that their pill use interfered with their conventional jobs and lifestyles; they concealed such use from their employers and coworkers, and from non-using friends and family members. None reported contacts with police nor seeking treatment specifically for their pill misuse. Many reported misusing prescription pills in conjunction with illegal drugs (marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy) and alcohol. Pills were used as a way to enhance the euphoric effects of other drugs, as well as a way to avoid the negative side effects of illegal drugs. Some reported pill use as a means for reducing expenditures (and use of) alcohol and cocaine. The implications suggest a hidden subpopulation of prescription pill misusers among regular users of marijuana and other illegal drugs. Future research should include users and misusers of various pills to better understand how prescriptions pills interact with illegal drug use patterns.