WASHINGTON -- A new report says more than 15 million Americans are abusing controlled prescription drugs.

The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse, or CASA, said the number jumped from 7.8 million in 1992 to 15.1 million in 2003 -- more than the combined number of people abusing cocaine, hallucinogens, heroin and inhalants.

Joseph Califano, the organization's president, said the biggest problem is among the nation's youth. He said the number of teens abusing prescription drugs has tripled in the past decade.

"While America has been congratulating itself in recent years on curbing increases in alcohol and illicit drug abuse, and in the decline in teen smoking, abuse of prescription drugs has been stealthily, but sharply, rising," Califano said in a news release.

CASA lashed out against Internet pharmacies, saying that only 6 percent of the Web sites in the study required a prescription, while almost none restricted in any way the sale of controlled prescription drugs to children.

"Anyone with a credit card and Internet access can get their hands on these dangerous drugs," noted Beau Dietl, chairman and CEO of Beau Dietl & Associates, which conducted the Internet pharmacy study with CASA.

Califano, who was a top official in the Carter administration, said parents must take responsibility for their children's abuse of drugs.

"Parents who do not want to become inadvertent drug pushers should consider locking their medicine cabinets," he said.

But Califano said physicians also must be held accountable. CASA's survey of physicians found that 43.3 percent of physicians do not ask about prescription drug abuse when taking a patient's health history. Califano said doctors should be checking the drugs their patients are taking before writing out a prescription.

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