Health Highlights: Feb. 15, 2007

American teens are cutting back on their use of marijuana, but their abuse of prescription drugs in recent years has stayed the same or increased, according to a report released Wednesday by White House drug czar John Walters.

From 2002 to 2005, rates of marijuana use declined from 30.1 percent to 25.8 percent. Over that same period, the use of the painkiller OxyContin increased from 2.7 percent to 3.5 percent and the use of Vicodin, another painkiller, increased from 6 percent to 6.3 percent, theAssociated Pressreported.

Teens are also abusing anti-anxiety drugs like Xanax and stimulants like Adderall, Walters said. Overall, 2.1 million American teens abused prescription drugs in 2005.

Teens are abusing prescription drugs because they believe they're safer than street drugs and they're also easier to obtain, according to Walters. He said many teens get prescription drugs over the Internet, from friends, or steal them from household medicine cabinets, theAPreported.

Adults need to keep track of prescription drugs and dispose of them properly when the drugs expire, Walters said.

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Office Desks Teem with Bacteria

The average office desk has about 400 times more bacteria than the average toilet seat in a workplace restroom, according to a new study.

And the study also found that female office workers tend to have three to four times the amount of bacteria in, on and around their desks, drawers, keyboards, computers, phones and personal items than their male colleagues, theAssociated Pressreported.

"I thought for sure men would be germier. But women have more interactions with small children and keep food in their desks. The other problem is makeup," study author Charles Gerba, a professor of soil, water and environmental sciences at the University of Arizona, told theAP.

For this study, commissioned by the Clorox Co., Gerba tested more than 100 offices across the country.

Using a disinfectant on office surfaces can help reduce the amount of bacteria in offices, Gerba added.

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