All sectors of the community have a role to play to prevent prescription drug abuse

Last month, the President hosted a community discussion on the prescription drug abuse and heroin epidemic. The forum focused on developing and implementing responses that involve all sectors of the community. The President announced two initiatives to address this problem: prescriber training and improving access to treatment.

 More Americans now die every year from drug overdoses than they do in motor vehicle crashes and the majority of those overdoses involve prescription medications. Opioids are a class of prescription pain medications that includes hydrocodone, oxycodone, morphine, and methadone. Heroin belongs to the same class of drugs, and four in five heroin users started out by misusing prescription opioid pain medications.

 

This fact sheet was distributed through local pharmacies.

Locally, the Prevention WINS coalition and partners are doing their part to prevent prescription drug abuse. Prevention WINS reached out to area pharmacies asking them to post a flyer talking about preventing and reducing underage drug abuse by locking up and/or keeping track of  medications. The flyer has facts about teen prescription medicine abuse and resources for help.  Prevention WINS also asked the pharmacies to include a smaller version in the bags with the medicine dispensed.  Katterman's Pharmacy and the University Village QFC pharmacy agreed to post the flyers and include the inserts with the medications.   GroupHealth agreed to do this in nearly all their Washington GHC pharmacies.  The materials were distributed to the three pharmacies the last week of October.  Katterman's received 500 inserts, University QFC received 1,500 and Group Health received 3,000.