Voices for Health

Medication Take Back Program Info

By Cara Gresham, Intern, San Juan Island Prevention Coalition

Health care providers have been prescribing and administering medications for years, 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 is 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 ages 18 to 25 have the highest rate of prescription drug abuse, followed by teens ages 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. The 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) states that 56% of youth who are abusing prescription drugs, are obtaining them from friends or family for free. Youth are also abusing their own prescription medications, and/or using over-the-counter medications that they buy or find in the family’s 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. The Office of National Drug Control Policy states that 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. Just because pills are prescribed by a health care provider does not mean they are safe.

For me this 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 on? 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 that much more important. Decreasing access to prescription drugs to lower abuse rates among youth is a vital part of creating Drug Free Communities. Medication Take Back Programs are a great way to help decrease access, and be more environmentally friendly.

People in San Juan County should no longer feel there isn’t an alternative 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 can make a big difference in the decrease of substance abuse. 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, call the Take Back Coordinator, Cara Gresham, at 360-378-9683 or email her at cara.preventionsanjuan@hotmail.com.

San Juan Island Prevention Coalition