You knew that certain genres of music were, perhaps, more apt to mention certain, um, “taboo” subjects more often than others, subjects including drug and alcohol use—and I’m not talking about encouragement to take your painkillers as prescribed.

A new study has shown that as many as a third of all popular songs make reference to the illegal use of substances. When combined with a consumer study that shows that the largest market for popular music is 14-year-old girls, this becomes a very disturbing statistic indeed.

So what kind of music is more likely to present a pro-using standpoint to your kids? About 77 percent or three-quarters of all rap music—not to be confused with hip-hop and R&B—promotes substance abuse. Only about 20 percent or one-fifth of hip-hop and R&B songs, on the other hand, mention use of substances. Country music comes in second with 37 percent of its songs discussing substance use while rock comes in fourth with 14 percent and pop songs are at the bottom with 9 percent.

Easily influenced teenagers looking for role models are attracted to their high profile singing idols who more often than not make it sound like substance use leads to positive consequences as opposed to negative. Says one of the lead researchers on the music study, Brian A. Primack, MD, EdM, “Previous research has shown that exposure to substance use messages in media is linked to actual substance use in adolescents. That is why we need to be aware of exposures such as these, especially when they are associated with highly positive consequences and associations.”

If they’re listening to music at 14, by 15 they may be trying the substances. As we well know, only a few uses of certain drugs like prescription painkillers and opioid-based street drugs can lead to addiction. When you’re a kid experimenting with drugs, talking to your parents in time to save yourself from addiction is a rare thing, but if you find out that your child is using, you can help him or her salvage their education and social life without the stigma of drug rehab. Subutex and Suboxone can help your teenager to immediately kick the habit without getting extremely ill and continue to go to school. It’s hard enough to be a teenager. Experimenting with drugs doesn’t have to put a label on them that will follow them until they head off to college—if they can get through high school.

If you want to check out the details of this study, head over to the American Public Health Association.

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"Did You Know…A Third of Popular Songs Refer To Substance Use" posted in Addiction, Drug Withdrawal, Prescription Drug Addiction, Suboxone, Subutex.
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