According to Time magazine, Pharming parties are get-togethers where prescription drugs are exchanged. These parties, while not necessarily devoted to illegal substances, are meeting places to use prescription drugs in order to become intoxicated. Analgesics (such as OxyContin or Vicodin), antianxiety medicines (Valium or Xanax), or attention-deficit disorder drugs (Ritalin or Adderall) are common fare. While improper use of pain medication can be dangerous, such drugs are highly prized for the intoxication they provide. Pills are generally acquired via online pharmacies which don't require prescriptions. As well, participants will use legitimately prescriped medication (and may feign or exaggerate symptoms in order to be given further prescriptions).
Prevalence
A June 19, 2006 column by Slate editor Jack Shafer traces reports of teen "pharming parties" back to their source and concludes that there is little evidence indicating that such a phenomenon is popular, growing, or even real.[1] Shafer writes, "If pharm parties are a trend, they're the best-hidden and least-talked about one in the country," he wrote. "It goes without saying that pharm parties may be very real and very everywhere. It's a big country. But it looks to me like pharm party is just a new label the drug-abuse industrial complex has adopted to describe the decades-old tradition of pill parties."
References
- Banta, Carolyn. "Trading for a High", Time Magazine, 01 August 2005, pp. 35.
