By: Cara Gresham, Take Back Coordinator, San Juan Island Prevention Coalition
Doctors and other health care providers have been administrating and prescribing medications throughout time, so what has changed?
The use and abuse of illegal drugs and alcohol has been a social problem of ever changing proportion. The latest drug of choice: prescription medications.
Prescription drug abuse is on the rise throughout the nation, and is adversely affecting the nation’s youth. According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, young adults age 18 to 25 have the highest rate of prescription drug abuse followed by teens age 12 to 17.
Easy access plays a key role in why prescription drug abuse is on the rise. The number one way youth are gaining access to prescription drugs and other medications are from family and friends.
Youth are not necessarily stealing these medications either. 56 percent of youth who are abusing prescription drugs are obtaining them from friends or family for free, says the results of the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH).
Youth are also abusing their own prescription medications, and or using over the counter medications which they buy or find in the family home.
The number one cause of Emergency Medical Calls and deaths among youth have moved away from blunt force trauma (i.e. car accidents) to overdoses.
From the Office of National Drug Control Policy: By 2008 emergency room visits for the misuse of prescription or over the counter medications became as common as those for the use of illicit drugs.
This, for me, represents a sad state of affairs for our youth, families, and country. As someone pointed out to me, is this not the age group which abuse falls most heavily in? This may be true, and that in itself makes the need for organizations such as Prevention Coalitions and programs like the Drug Take Back Program all the more important.
Decreasing access to prescription drugs, to lower abuse rates among youth is a vital part of creating Drug Free Communities. Drug Take Back Programs are a great way to help decrease access, and be more environmentally friendly.
No longer should people in San Juan County feel there is no alternative on how to dispose of medications than flushing them down the toilet, throwing them in the garbage, or letting them gather dust in a medicine cabinet.
Individual community members together can make the biggest difference in the decrease of substance abuse where they live. Bringing unused, unwanted, or expired medications back to your local pharmacy on Take Back days will help increase safe disposal and decrease access. Remember you can make a difference in decreasing prescription drug abuse in the lives of youth in our community.
For more information on the Medication Take Back Program, contact Take Back Coordinator: Cara Gresham
378-9683 or cara.preventionsanjuan@hotmail.com
