Image
It’s lurking in your bathroom cabinets, on your kitchen counter and maybe even on your nightstand. In Arizona, one in five 10th-graders report having used one without a doctor’s prescription (2012 Arizona Youth Survey results). What’s this close to home and dangerous to our kids? Prescription and over-the-counter medicine.
While medicine abuse is a problem in Arizona, the community has the power to make a difference.
Here are two ways you can impact Arizona today:
- Safe Storage: Reducing medicine abuse begins by storing it in a safe place and eliminating the ease-of-access factor. Ideally, that safe place would only be known to you and would include a lock. Every additional step you can take reduces the opportunity for medicine abuse.
- Safe Disposal: Take the guesswork out of disposing of unused medicine and prescription drugs by participating in the DEA’s Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on Saturday, April 26. Local police stations will be offering community drop-off options across the Valley that day. (Learn more about locations and accepted items.)
Plus, if you can’t make this disposal event, or find yourself with extra medications at other points throughout the year, check out these safe disposal methods.
For more information about the medicine abuse epidemic, visit www.DrugFreeAz.org/RX.
