Andrew Janke has done it all -- he's smoked, he's drank, he's popped pills and he's even done all three at once. Although most of this was in his past, today Janke says popping prescription painkillers played a big part of his high school career.

After breaking his arm his sophomore year and having pins surgically inserted, Janke, human relations junior, was prescribed a bottle of hydrocodone to kill the pain.

"I told my doctor I was worried about how much pain I was going to be in, and he said, 'I'll take real good care of you. Don't worry,' " he said.

Janke said he was surprised when he found out that "real good care" came in the form of 120 painkillers.

Just two weeks after surgery, Janke said his arm had adjusted and the pain was no longer intolerable, but he had enough painkillers to last him another three months.

"I wasn't trying to make hard-core money, but I sold some of them to the druggies at my school," he said. "But I kept most of them for me to use."

With a plethora of painkillers at his fingertips, Janke began to experiment with the hydrocodone, mixing it with alcohol and sometimes marijuana.

Although he doesn't smoke anymore, Janke said he could clearly remember the effect mixing had on him.

"If you crush it up and sprinkle it on your weed, it gets you f----ed up beyond belief," he said.

Janke isn't the only one who has used painkillers for non-medical reasons. Non-medical painkiller use is on the rise among teenagers across the board, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

This gradual increase is also raising questions among the public. How are teenagers getting these drugs? Who's writing the prescriptions? How easy is it for someone to obtain the drug without a prescription?

Former OU student Will Schmidt said he has the answers to all of these questions. Although Schmidt is now 20 years old, he too remembers his high school days selling painkillers at Norman North High School.

Schmidt recently moved to the Philippines, but said he was pretty well known in Norman.

"I hate it when people take it as bragging, but you can ask anybody who would know -- I was truly resourceful when I was home," Schmidt said.

The Internet was a reliable source for Schmidt when it came to prescription painkillers. Through very minimal research on any search engine, Schmidt said he could turn up any and all pharmaceuticals, what conditions they are prescribed for and what symptoms coincided with those conditions.

Schmidt said he found that going to a doctor for something that can't easily be diagnosed is probably the best way to obtain what you're looking for.

"The doctor is in no situation to deny your claims," he said. "And who the hell is he if he does?"

Janke said he agrees that it's simple to get a prescription without actually having a reason to need one. He said that most of the time doctors ask, "What's your pain between one and 10?" and when the answer is "a high nine," the prescriptions are basically written.

Schmidt warned that coming on too strong about which prescription he's hoping for is a good way to blow his cover.

"Much like how most guys talk a girl into sleeping with them, being too direct makes them suspicious and cautious, but hinting towards something and making them guess at it first is usually a sure bet," he said.

In the case that someone can't get their own prescription, both Janke and Schmidt said it's not hard to get pills from someone else. Karina Forrest, the facility director of the Adolescent Treatment Center in Norman, said she sees teenagers every day suffering from a painkiller addiction, and many of them get the drugs from their homes.

Forrest has found that what's not available in the medicine cabinet at home can easily be found among peers and friends of friends alike.

"They have quite a network just of friends," Forrest said. "They trade 'this many pills' for 'this much weed.' "

Although the users feel untouchable during their high, Forrest said the painkillers could be very deadly because when people take drugs or drink, they often binge.

"Overdose with painkillers, and it can cost you your life," she said.

Most people don't realize their addiction to the drug until it's too late, but Forrest said treatment is their best bet.

Schmidt said he was going through a phase in his life that was really hard, all the while dealing heavily in pills.

"I pulled through it on my own," he said. "I didn't ask for help. I realized I needed to quit and did."
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