More youngsters say it's easier for them to get prescription drugs than it is to acquire beer, shows a new survey released today by the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University.

To conduct the study of about 1,000 12- to 17-year old teens, CASA raised the following question: "Which is easiest for someone your age to buy: cigarettes, beer, marijuana, or prescription drugs such as OxyContin, Percocet, Vicodin or Ritalin, without a prescription?"

90% of teens said it is easier to acquire prescription drugs than cigarettes, beer or marijuana, in contrast with 13% last year. An estimated 25% of the youngsters answered that it is easiest to purchase marijuana, with 43% of them saying they could buy the illicit drug in no more than an hour.

The findings of the report also show that a significant number of parents are unaware of where their children are during the evenings, as well as of their alcohol and drug consumption.

Almost half of the adolescents who responded to the survey said they used to go out with their buddies on school nights, and occasionally did drugs and took alcohol. However, only 14% of parents said their children did that.

Elizabeth Planet, the center's director of special projects and the leader of the study, drew attention to the discrepancy in behavior between parents and their children.

"Half of the teenagers were saying they were out on school nights, but only 14 percent of the parents knew that they were out. There are lots of factors at play here,” she affirmed. “Parents are not paying attention. There are parents who are out in the evening themselves. There are parents out at work."