Posts Tagged abusing prescription drugs

Drug Take Back Day on April 30th

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on April 13th, 2011

On April 30, an event dubbed as Drug Take Back Day will be held in various areas sponsored by government agencies. This activity aims to help prevent prescription drug abuse by collecting unused and unwanted prescribed medications. Organizers assured the public that those who will take part in the activity will remain anonymous and will not be obliged to answer any question regarding the activity.

prescription drugsThe fight against prescription drug abuse is one battle that parents are most concerned about since many of the victims are adolescents. Reports showed that in 2009, there were 7 million children, 12 years and older, who abused prescribed medications for non-medical purposes. It was also known that on the average, there are 2,500 teens every day that get high using prescription medications for the first time. Did you also know that two teens in every five see prescription medications as much safer than illegal drugs and that three out of ten believe painkillers are not addictive at all?

This is why the Tri-State has initiated the Drug Take Back activity. It will be held in the following venues from 10 am to 2 pm on the 30th of April:

1. Huntington: Huntington Police Department at Ebenezer Medical Outreach, 1448 10th Ave.
2. Huntington: West Virginia State Police at West Virginia State Police Detachment, 3339 U.S. 60.
3. Kenova: Kenova Department of Public Safety at Kenova Volunteer Fire Department, 1600 Pine St.
4. Barboursville: Barboursville Police Department at Barboursville Police Department/Municipal Building, 721 Central Ave.
5. South Point: Lawrence County Ohio Drug Task Force at Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce, 216 Collins Ave., South Point.
6. Ironton: Ironton Hills parking lot.
7. Coal Grove: Village Hall parking lot on Carlton-Davidson Lane.
8. Burlington: Wal-Mart parking lot.
9. Lawrence County: Fairground entrance at Ohio 7 and Ohio 243.
10. Ashland: Kentucky State Police at Kentucky State Police Detachment, 5975 U.S. 60.

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Reasons Why Prescription Drug Abuse Is On The Rise

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on December 28th, 2010

Prescription drug abuse is dubbed by a feature on the Chicago Sun-Times as the “fastest-growing drug problem” in the United States. Deaths due to accidental drug overdose have increased five-fold over the last twenty years, according to the CDC. It also overtook heroin and cocaine combined as the cause of overdose deaths in the United States in 2007.

This meteoric rise of prescription drug abuse is due to several reasons. The fact that these drugs – usually painkillers such as OxyContin, Vicodin, and Fentanyl – are basically legal substances that are prescribed by doctors for legitimate reasons, people think that it is safer, regardless of whether it is used properly or abused.

prescription drugsSally Thoren, executive director of Gateway Foundation, an organization that provides substance abuse treatment, said: “People think, ‘It comes from the doctor. Mom took it for a toothache or a broken bone. How bad can it be?’”

Another reason for the surge is the fact that there was also an increase in doctor prescriptions for painkillers, a trend that began in the 1990s. According to Kathleen Kane-Willis, director of Roosevelt University’s Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy, the greater availability of prescription painkillers became the catalyst for more widespread abuse: “In the 80s and early 90s, there was so little pain medicine prescribed… Now, the pendulum has kind of swung the other way.”

She suggested that while there is no need to deny pain medication to people who need them, it is important for doctors to have frank conversations with their patients regarding the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

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DEA Prescription Drug Take-Back Initiative Collects 121 Tons of Unwanted Drugs

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on October 8th, 2010

The Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) released a statement on Tuesday regarding its recent prescription drug take-back initiative, which, according to a report by The Associated Press, was able to gather more than 121 tons of unused medicines.

prescription drugsThe main goal of the effort is to prevent abuse of prescription drugs by removing them from homes, and it was conducted last September 25. National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day gave Americans an opportunity to legally and safely get rid of unwanted prescription drugs, and it could be done anonymously and for free.

Michele M. Leonhart, Acting Administrator for the DEA, shared the following statement from the agency: “The Take-Back Campaign was a stunning nationwide success that cleaned out more than 121 tons of pills from America’s medicine cabinets, a crucial step toward reducing the epidemic of prescription drug abuse that is plaguing this nation.”

David Ausiello, a spokesman for the DEA, shared that over 4,000 collection sites catered to anyone who had excess prescription drugs across the country. Aside from drugs, people also brought items that they received along with their prescription, such as needles.

There are many people who have unwanted prescription drugs in their homes, and they do not know what to do with them or how to dispose of them properly. Some resort to flushing them down the toilet, a practice that can have an impact on a community’s water supply. Some even simply throw medicines out.

There is legislation that has been passed by the House and the Senate that will allow state and private entities to set up responsible drug take-back programs; for now, though, only law enforcement is legally allowed to receive unused prescriptions.

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1½ Tons of Prescription Drugs Collected on National Take Back Day

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on September 27th, 2010

National Take Back Day, a campaign led by the Drug Enforcement Administration, with the goal of relieving Americans of expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs that may potentially be dangerous, was able to gather 1½ tons of medicines. These medicines will then be properly disposed of, instead of being flushed down toilets or mixed in with coffee grounds, or worse, abused by teenagers.

prescription drugsA feature on the Houston Chronicle shared the following statement from Ray Andrews, the director of Houston Crackdown, the anti-drug division of the mayor’s office for public safety and homeland security: “The medicine cabinet has become the new drug dealer… To the extent we can warn people about drugs and help people dispose of their unused and expired drugs in a legal manner, we are literally saving lives.”

The primary goal of the effort is to reduce prescription drug abuse, but there is another issue that the effort was able to address: environmental concerns that may arise out of improper disposal of prescription drugs, which can potentially contaminate a community’s water supply.

Despite the repeated announcements that the drop-offs will be anonymous – no questions asked – there are still people who were bashful as they dropped off their medicines. And despite the significant amount of medicines that were gathered, there were collection sites that did not have that much traffic.

Anthony Scott, an assistant special agent in charge in the Houston office of the DEA, said: “Nobody’s going to get locked up behind this. We’re not going to peel off a label and look at someone’s name and that’s what they were afraid of… We’re hoping that the word gets out from this go-round that nothing bad came out of it and nobody got arrested, and I think next time we do it we’ll be more successful than we were today.”

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September 25 is National Take-back Day

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse on September 13th, 2010

In previous posts, we shared programs against prescription drug abuse that are being implemented in Suffolk County, New York (Operation Medicine Cabinet), the state of Montana, and in San Diego, California.

prescription drugsOn September 25, 2010, this type of effort will be done on a national scale, as shared in a press release from the Department of Justice, given last August 19. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is joining forces with government, public health and law enforcement partners in the fight against prescription drug abuse through the prescription drug take-back initiative.

The other participants in this initiative are: the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy; the Partnership for a Drug-Free America; the International Association of Chiefs of Police; the National Association of Attorneys General; the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy; the Federation of State Medical Boards; and the National District Attorneys Association.

From 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM local time on September 25, the DEA will collect expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs. There will be sites set-up nationwide that will offer the service for free, and the drugs that will be collected through the initiative will be properly destroyed.

Acting Deputy Attorney General Gary G. Grindler said: “With this National Prescription Drug Take-Back campaign, we are aggressively reaching out to individuals to encourage them to rid their households of unused prescription drugs that pose a safety hazard and can contribute to prescription drug abuse. The Department of Justice is committed to doing everything we can to make our communities safer, and this initiative represents a new front in our efforts.”

Those who are interested in taking advantage of this initiative can go to the DEA website to check out collection sites that have been set up in local communities.

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Kentucky Moms Join in Fight Against Prescription Drug Abuse

Posted by Drug Free in Prescription Drug Abuse, Raising Healthy Kids on September 12th, 2010

Two Kentucky moms who lost their young daughters to prescription drug abuse are lending a helping hand in the fight against prescription drug abuse, according to a feature on the Courier-Journal.com.

Lynn Kissick lost her 22-year-old daughter Savannah to an overdose of painkillers and sedatives, while Karen Shay lost her 19-year-old daughter Sarah to a methadone overdose.

prescription drugsKissick and Shay are reaching out to teens via the presentation of their stories in a video that is making the rounds of high schools in the state. The video is part of a public awareness campaign, through the joint efforts of the Kentucky attorney general’s office, Kentucky Justice Cabinet, Kentucky Pharmacists Association, National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators and Operation UNITE. The first showing was held at the Western Hills High School in Frankfort last Thursday.

Kissick shared: “It can happen, and it does happen, and it will happen… One time, and it can kill you.” Shay, on the other hand, urged teens to ensure that their families do not go through the pain that prescription drug abuse may bring: “Children are supposed to live longer than their parents, so when you go before us, it leaves a huge, huge hole.”

Van Ingram, executive director for the Kentucky Office of Drug Control Policy, shared that studies from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that 20 percent of teens in the state have admitted to using prescription pills for recreational purposes. He shared further that 530 people died due to prescription drug overdose last year.

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