Who else has been taking your prescriptions?
Take a minute to watch this public service announcement (PSA) from The Partnership from Drugfree.org
If you are having trouble viewing the video, you can see it here.
This PSA “Mind Your Meds” is succinct, powerful and thought provoking. Don’t you think so? We have often published posts about prescription drug abuse and the impact that this abuse and the resulting addiction rates among all ages are having on our society. So we thought we would take just a few minutes today to share useful steps to safeguard your loved ones.
The Medicine Abuse Project
If you have never visited the website Drugfree.org, we invite you to do so, particularly if you have children living in your home or your young adult children visit from time to time. As their website offers:
“The Partnership at Drugfree.org is a drug abuse prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery resource, existing to help parents and caregivers effectively address alcohol and drug abuse with their teens and young adults.”
In the past few years, Drugfree.org has developed and launched a new website called The Medicine Abuse Project™. You will find valuable information on this site with resources for parents and grandparents, health care providers, educators, and communities and law enforcement. For example, they offer three steps to safeguard your home.
-
- Monitor:
Think about this: would you know if some of your pills were missing? From this day forward, make sure you can honestly answer, “Yes.”
-
- Secure:
Take prescription medicine out of the medicine cabinet and secure them in a place only you know about.
-
- Dispose:
Safely disposing of expired or unused prescription medicine is a critical step in helping to protect your teens.
Prescription drug abuse includes more than just opioid based pharmaceuticals
It is important to remember that prescription drug abuse is not just about opioid abuse; consider monitoring, securing and disposing of all of the following prescription drugs that have addiction potential:
- Narcotic painkillers like Vicodin® and OxyContin®
- Sedatives and tranquilizers like Valium®, Xanax® and Ambien®
- Stimulants like Adderall® and Ritalin®
