NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- According to a recent study, teenagers said academic pressure is the leading cause of drug use.

Video: Students Blame Academic Pressure For Drug Abuse

Every year right before school starts, the Partnership for a Drug Free America asks teenagers a couple of simple questions: "Do you take drugs? What kind of drugs? Why did you take drugs?"

This year, the group said it found some disturbing new answers.

For the first time, children are saying the No. 1 reason they take drugs is to cope with school pressure.

The pressure, the students said, came from a longer school year, a longer school day, more homework and an emphasis on test scores.

"Well, we’ve been seeing it ratchet up constantly, and it’s everywhere in the media, too, about the schools under duress that are not making the grade, the kids aren’t making the grade, there’s a lot of anxiety in the schools," Judy Fruedenthal said.

Fruedenthal said she sees the results of pressure a lot as the prevention director of Nashville's Oasis Center.

According to research, drugs, alcohol, marijuana, Ecstasy and methamphetamine are all down again this year, but prescription drug use is up.

"Being in a sport, like your stressing, you know, you want to be a good volleyball player, you want to be a good soccer player, and then you’re trying to be a good student, you’re trying to do all these extracurricular activities to get into Vanderbilt or Howard or whatever it is you’re trying to achieve," said student Marleen Abdulnour.

One of the things the study revealed to parents was that if children who care about grades were taking drugs, is it really going to be obvious who is taking drugs and who isn’t?

"If you see your kid going to school every day in the honors program, grades up, involved in extracurriculars, you just, you know, that’s not the drug user stereotype. So a lot of parents completely miss what their kids are doing," said student Abbie Alexander.

Some of the students said that even many parents think it’s OK to slip an overworked child a muscle relaxant just to take the edge off, but of course, experts said the practice is a flirtation with addiction, Channel 4’s Dennis Ferrier reported.

Almost half of high school students think that abusing prescription drugs is safer than abusing illegal drugs, according to the study.

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