Over the Counter

Do you want to raise awareness of the dangers of prescription (Rx) drug abuse and over-the-counter (OTC) cough medicine abuse, and enter in a drawing for a free iPad? Then take part in the CADCA 50 Challenge.

A statewide social marketing and media campaign in West Virgina may be just what the doctor ordered. The "Take Care West Virginia: RX Drug Abuse Prevention Campaign" hopes public service announcements, a new website www.takecarewv.org, prescription bags that include the campaign message and town hall-style forums and discussions will be the cure for their prescription drug abuse problem.

Nearly 800 community pharmacies in 40 states are making it easier than ever for consumers to safely dispose of unused patient medications at their local pharmacy through a new initiative spearheaded by the National Community Pharmacists Association and Sharps Compliance, Inc.

Data from the Partnership for a Drug-Free America indicate that one in 10 teens reports having abused OTC cough medicines to get high, and 28 percent know someone who has tried it.

With the escalating rates of prescription and over-the-counter (OTC) medicine abuse affecting communities nationwide, this issue will be one of the featured topics at CADCA's National Leadership Forum next month. Several workshops will address everything from prescription take back programs to media campaigns to raise awareness of over-the-counter cough medicine abuse.

While there were slight decreases in the use of cocaine and methamphetamine among youth, teen marijuana use showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, according to the 2009 Monitoring the Future Survey, marijuana use among adolescents has increased gradually over the past two years after years of declining use; and past year rates of Vicodin and OxyContin abuse increased during the last 5 years among 10th graders and remained unchanged among 8th and 12th graders. The MTF Survey, which surveys youth in 8th, 10th and 12th graders, was released Monday by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and the University of Michigan.

With more young people abusing prescription drugs than any illicit drug except marijuana, communities across the country are holding prescription take back events as part of their efforts to reduce youth access to these drugs and increase awareness about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

Emergency room visits related to the nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals, including prescription and over-the-counter drugs, increased 21 percent from 2004 to 2005, according to the latest estimates from the Drug Abuse Warning Network, 2005: National Estimates of Drug-Related Emergency Department Visits. Visits related to illicit drug use or alcohol were unchanged for the same time period.

Next month, anti-drug coalitions throughout the country will hold discussions in their community to raise awareness about an alarming trend among young people—the abuse of cough medicines containing the active ingredient dextromethorphan (DXM) to get high. The events are part of National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month, the first ever national observance created in response to over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse.

The latest Drug Abuse Warning Network (DAWN) report—drawn from a sample of hospital emergency departments across the Nation—indicates that more than 1.7 million visits to emergency departments (ED) were associated with some form of substance misuse or abuse. The 2006 DAWN report, developed by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), provides the latest estimates on how substance use affects this critical part of the Nation´s healthcare system.

After a local survey showed that parents in Orange County believed that abusing prescription and over-the-counter drugs was safer than abusing illicit drugs, CADCA coalition Project PATH launched a community-wide effort to make this issue a top concern for parents.