How Prevalent is “Pharming”?
Though Time magazine has described pharm parties as “a growing trend among teenage drug abusers,” there is little statistical information on how often these events actually occur. Jack Shafer, a columnist for the online magazine Slate, has written three articles wondering whether the “trend” is more myth than menace. “I don’t dispute that some teens might be throwing pharm parties. Given the abundance of pharmaceuticals, I’d be astonished if some aren’t gathering right now in a suburban basement and doing and sharing drugs – as they have for decades. But are pharm parties a trend? … USA Today doesn’t produce the proof.” (Slate, June 15, 2006)As Shafer indicates in the excerpt above from his first article on the topic, he doesn’t doubt that teens are abusing prescription and OTC medications – he’s simply questioning the degree to which pharm parties have permeated today’s youth culture. Shafer, who has found references to pharm parties in articles dating to 2002, writes that his conce
