According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one out of every 10 kids from age 12 to 17 abused prescription drugs last year.

What is even more startling, as television station WCAU found out, is that children may be able to get their hands on these types of powerful drugs without even leaving home.

The station talked to a man who is a recovering addict and knows the lure of drugs.

"You will do what you need to do to get that pill," the man said.

His addiction took him to the streets. "It feels like you want to die, you want to die," he said.

He said he conned doctors and pharmacies for prescription pills -- then he found the cyber-dealers. "I just couldn't believe you could get them that easy," he said.

In fact, it was so easy even a child could do it.

Veronica Dress, 13, knows her way around the Internet. She is the daughter of one of the station's producers. Under the supervision of the Bensalem, Pa., police, Veronica joinedin an experiment to see if she could score narcotics, hard-core painkillers, antidepressants and steroids. No prescription? No problem.

Dr. Robert Forman, of the University of Pennsylvania, said his research found over 100 Web sites that offered to sell prescription drugs without prescriptions.

Forman conducted a study called "Narcotics on the Net." As part of his research, Forman was surprised to see promises of discreet packaging and confiscation guarantees to resend the drugs if police pick them up. One site offered free samples. No credit card, no money -- all you have to do is send an e-mail. Veronica e-mailed the company requesting samples of the highly addictive painkiller Dihydrocodine -- a relative of Oxycontin.

Days later, the drugs were delivered to Veronica's door. She received shipment after shipment from different Web sites. It was a candy store of powerful pills -- painkillers, codeine, steroids, antidepressants like Valium and Xanax. Dr. Matt Grissinger, of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, said that all the drugs Veronica received in the mail could add up to a dangerous dose.

"If this were being sold to her in a school yard or on a street corner they'd be hauled off to jail," said U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood. Greenwood is a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees commerce over the Internet.

Greenwood wants new laws to crack down on these sites. But many of the companies are beyond the United States' borders. Some of the prescription drugs were sent to Veronica from Spain and Thailand. The free sample came from England. The station called the company that runs one of the Web sites to tell the operator that he sent narcotics to a teenager.

In his country, the man pointed out, you can get some of these prescription pills over the counter. A company in Thailand wrote that it warns customers that 18 is the minimum buying age -- but on their Web site they never ask the age of the person ordering the drugs. In an e-mail, the company said if it sold drugs to a 13-year-old it was, "of course, a severe mistake."

While federal authorities say it is tough to prosecute outside the United States, police will come to your door in this country.

The station went to the apartment of Lisa Tornetta and her boyfriend, Mark Grignon, because they have been charged with buying large amounts of steroids on the Internet. The police said the bodybuilders were using them to buff up. But being arrested isn't the only risk they may have taken.

Experts say that when you order something from outside the United States, you have no idea what you're getting.

The station wanted to see what Veronica got, so Bensalem police tested the drugs she received in the mail. Police said they were the real thing.

"This is pretty scary stuff," Fred Harran, of the Bensalem Police Department.

The former addict agreed. "My heart stopped. I was dead," he said.

He believes his near-death experience actually saved him. But he said tapping the Internet for pills is addictive.

"If I was still using pills, that's the way I'd be getting my pills -- because it's so easy. It's so easy," he said.

The station did not provide the names of the Web sites they visited because they did not want publicize them. But they did get action.

One Web site promised that, starting immediately, it would require signatures for all orders and would make sure the name of the person ordering and the name of the person on the credit card match. The company said it believes this action will combat children using their parent's credit cards without the parents' knowledge.

Related Resources: Health And Human Services Study
Institute for Safe Medication Practices
HHS On Substance Abuse and Addictions
Narcotics Anonymous
Food and Drug Administration