Prescription Pain Relievers

Street Names: Vicodine, Vics, Killers, Vike, Vitamin V, Oxy, Percocet, Percs, Hillbilly Heroin, Oxycotton, Oxy, Hydrocodone, OC, Oxycodone, Hydrocodone Bitartrate, Poor Man's Heroin, Codeine 

Looks Like: Tablets, Capsules, Liquid Rx cough medicine

How It's Used/Abused: Swallowed, Injected, Snorted or Smoked

What Teens Have Heard: "A free high, straight from the medicine cabinet."

Short and Long Term Effects: Respiratory depression that can lead to death, Constipation, Nausea, Vomiting, Dizziness, Weakness, Analgesia, Headache, Dry Mouth, Sedation, Drowsiness, Mood Changes, Anxiety, Fear, Skin Rash, Decreased Mental and Physical Abilities, Hearing Loss. 

Signs of Abuse: Medicine bottles present without illness, prescription bottles missing, disrupted eating and sleeping patterns. 

Talk to Your Kids: For more information on talking with teens about alcohol and other drugs, go to the Talk to Your Kids page.

**Disposal**: To learn more about how and where to safely dispose of your prescrition medications, go to the Rx Disposal Page.

Learn More 

Check out our webinar, "Rx2H: Prescription Drug & Heroin Abuse"  to learn more about the link petween prescription drugs and heroin.  
 

Download & Print Infographic:   **ENGLISH**         **ESPAÑOL**

Safe Storage

When storing your medication, it is important to keep them out of reach and inaccesible to your kids.  This could be in a room, cabinet, or drawer that is locked as well as a box that is specifically designed for the safe keeping of medications.  These can be found at many home organiztion stores or online by seaching for "medicine lock boxes." Below are a couple examples of these lock boxes.

 

 

Medicine Disposal

Old or unused medications should be disposed of properly to ensure they don't get into the wrong hands or do unintended harm.  Avoid flushing pills and liquid medications down the toilet, as this can contaminate the water supply.  Instead, follow one of the methods below:

 

1) Find a drop box location:

(Arizona Department of Health Services)

 

2) Find a community based Rx take-back event:

(U.S. Dept. of Justice, Drug Encorcement Agency)

 

3) Self Disposal

If the first two method of disposing of your medications aren't available to you, you can follow these steps

"1. Remove labeling from the pill bottle. Do not crush the pills or open capsules.

  2. Mix the drugs with an unpleasant substance, such as kitty litter or coffee grounds.

  3. Put the drugs and unpleasant substance in the garbage separate from the pill bottle."

-Safe Drug Disposal Guide from the Partnership fo Drug-Free Kids