The best way to dispose of your old medications. As you will read
371 Tons of Rx Medicine Collected from DEA Take-Back Event on April 27
More than 742,000 pounds –371 tons – of prescription (Rx) medications were collected from members of the public at more than 5,800 locations throughout the country for the sixth Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)-facilitated National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on April 27. To date, all six DEA Take-Back events have generated the collection of more than 2.8 million pounds (1,409 tons) of Rx medicines, safely removing them from circulation.
According to recently released data from the 2012 Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS), one in four teens (24 percent) reports having misused or abused an Rx drug at least once in their lifetime (up from 18 percent in 2008 to 24 percent in 2012), which translates to about 5 million teens. In addition, more than half of teens (56 percent) indicated that it’s easy to get Rx drugs from their parent’s medicine cabinet, and about half of parents (49 percent) say anyone can access their medicine cabinet.
Last Saturday’s drug collection initiative was a collaboration between the DEA and state and local law enforcement. Americans were urged to empty their medicine cabinets, kitchen drawers and bedside tables of Rx drugs that were expired or no longer needed, and bring them to one of thousands of designated disposal sites around the nation to help prevent the abuse and misuse of medicine. Saturday’s event collected 50 percent more pills than the previous one, demonstrating the need for a safe place where Americans can discard unwanted, unused or expired prescription drugs from their homes.
Visit The Medicine Abuse Project online to learn more about how to safely store, safeguard and properly dispose of medicines in your home.
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http://www.liveinthenow.com/article/guess-what-kills-one-person-every-19-minutes
Guess What Kills One Person Every 19 Minutes?
Posted by Joshua Corn
Drugs Kill When it comes “how you’re going to die,” many people fear things like airplane crashes or shark attacks, even though statistics show that deaths from these events are very rare. Conversely, far too many people mistakenly believe that certain common aspects of everyday life are extremely safe — when, in reality, this is often far from the truth.
Once such daily ritual that is far more dangerous than many people believe is taking properly prescribed pharmaceutical drugs. Popping pills on a daily basis to “improve health” has become far too common for many Americans. In fact, according to the CDC, approximately 50% of all Americans take a pharmaceutical drug daily. When you isolate senior citizens, the number shoots up to an astonishing 90%. And perhaps even more troubling, 20% of children take a pharmaceutical drug.
At the same time, statistics are showing that deaths from pharmaceutical drugs are rising at an alarming rate. But don’t take my word for it. Just google the term “pharmaceutical drugs kill” and you’ll see headlines from major news organizations such as Fox and CNN that read:
“Prescription drugs 62,000 times more likely to kill …
“Prescription drugs kill 6200% more Americans …”
“Prescription Drugs Kill 300 Percent More Americans than Illegal Drugs…”
“Prescription drugs are now killing more people than traffic accidents…”
“Prescription Drug Deaths Skyrocket…”
“Prescription drugs kill one person every 19 minutes…”
“Prescription Drugs Now Kill More People Than Heroin And Cocaine Combined…”
Sadly, most people don’t know that properly prescribed prescription drugs kill over 100,000 Americans each year. (This excludes prescription drug abuse, which causes this number to skyrocket even higher.) This is more than or equal to the number of people who die from accidents, Alzheimer’s, influenza and diabetes!
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CHMI Works with Partners to Address the Prevalence of Prescription Drug Misuse
Posted on May 06, 2013 by Clinton Foundation | Tags: Clinton Health Matters Initiative, CHMI, Prescription Drug Abuse and Misuse Strategy, NYPD, NYU
Today, President Clinton joined NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly, New York University President John Sexton, and National Institute on Drug Abuse Director Dr. Nora Volkow for a panel discussion moderated by Wall Street Journal’s health reporter Melinda Beck on prescription drug abuse. Throughout the discussion, panelists brought to light the number of individuals affected by prescription drug misuse each year and how the issue is the nation’s fastest growing drug problem. In the United States, one person dies every 19 minutes from a drug overdose, a tragedy driven largely by the misuse of prescription painkillers. And, in the last 20 years, the consumption of prescription stimulants increased from 5 million to 45 million.
Throughout the discussion, each panelist highlighted how they are working to address this issue and discussed the many reasons for why prescription drug misuse and abuse is widespread, while also bringing attention to multi-pronged solutions for the issue. NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly highlighted how through their Clinton Health Matters Initiative pledge to action, the NYPD will address the problem of drug abuse from the position of enforcement, deterrence, and education. Commissioner Kelly announced that the NYPD will begin reaching out to all colleges and universities across New York City to work with them to increase awareness about prescription drug abuse during freshman orientation. New York University (NYU) President John Sexton highlighted that more than 7 percent of college students across the country in 2012 reported misuse of pain medication, and discussed NYU’s commitment to student health and wellness through the university’s Wellness Exchange program. The program provides a service 7 days a week, 24 hours a day for students to receive advice and support on a range of issues – whether they have anxiety over exams to problems with prescription drugs to thoughts of suicide. Additionally, Dr. Volkow discussed how it is often the lack of knowledge about how prescription drugs – especially when mixed with other drugs from stimulants to depressants – is what jeopardizes people.
During the panel, President Clinton discussed how the Clinton Health Matters Initiative (CHMI) will work to address the prevalence of prescription drug misuse on university and college campuses as well as emphasize how to reduce the prevalence of this issue in other environments such as demanding workplace settings. President Clinton noted that in just this decade alone, we have the potential to save 10,000 lives.
Over the next 5 years, the Clinton Foundation will work with partners including the NYPD to implement a number of initiatives designed to address the growing health and safety problem of prescription drug abuse. CHMI will also work to help universities foster safer, healthier environments by asking universities across the country to invest in best practices against the abuse and misuse of prescription drugs. CHMI will aim to cut in half the number of young people from 18 to 26-years-old misusing prescription drugs for the first time. Specifically, CHMI will recruit colleges and universities to join a Prescription Safe Campus Initiative (PSCI). Through PSCI, CHMI will build the capacity of student and campus leaders to implement best practice strategies to reduce prescription drug misuse and abuse in areas such as residence halls, campus health centers, campus security and police, employee wellness, student orientation, and athletics programs. Specific strategies will include prevention education programming, student-led awareness campaigns and increased substance abuse and mental health services on participating campuses.
In addition to working with colleges and universities, CHMI will build strategic partnerships with the corporate, non-governmental, philanthropic, and public sectors to address the following priority challenges to ending prescription drug misuse and abuse:
- Engage businesses that host physically demanding professions, such as energy, health care, the military, and transportation to integrate prescription drug abuse prevention and treatment support into workplace wellness efforts.
- Work with the pharmaceutical industry and others to improve supply and affordability of Naloxone/narcan, a drug used to counter the effects of opiate overdose.
- Engage medical associations, physician groups, retail pharmacy chains and others to expand the reach and improve the effectiveness of prescription drug monitoring programs that help detect and prevent the diversion and abuse of prescription drugs.
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Contact Urban Outfitters to Stop Selling Products that Promote Prescription Drug Abuse
Urban Outfitters, the national retail store popular with teens, is currently selling pint glasses, flasks and shot glasses made to look like prescription pill bottles. These products make light of prescription drug misuse and abuse, a dangerous behavior that is responsible for more deaths in the United States each year than heroin and cocaine combined. Medicine abuse has increased 33 percent over the past five years with one in four teens having misused or abused a prescription drug in their lifetime. Combined with alcohol, the misuse and abuse of prescription medications can be especially dangerous, making the Urban Outfitter Rx pint and shot glasses and flasks even more disturbing.
As recent research from The Partnership at Drugfree.org shows, teens and parents alike do not understand the health risks associated with the misuse and abuse of prescription drugs. In fact, more than a quarter of teens mistakenly believe that misusing and abusing prescription drugs is safer than using street drugs.
Tongue-in-cheek products that normalize and promote prescription drug abuse only serve to reinforce the misperception about the dangers associated with abusing medicine and put more teens at risk.
Ask Urban Outfitters to remove these products from their stores and website immediately.
Feel free to use the information above to help make your point.
CONTACT INFO FOR Urban Outfitters:
Send an e-mail to:
Richard A. Hayne; CEO & Chairman
richard.hayne@urbanout.com
Write a letter:
Urban Outfitters, Inc.
5000 South Broad St
Philadelphia, PA 19112-1495
Sign the Facebook Causes petition by clicking here.
When you take action, reply to this e-mail to let us know – and please forward this message to a friend or colleague.
Join us and make your voice heard!
The Partnership at Drugfree.org
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This was written by a friend Frank Greenagel Jr. via facebook
Another article on the opiate epidemic and the problems with insurance companies that make it difficult for their customers to get treatment. I’ve been beating the drum on this issue in newspapers, online and on the radio for over a year now.
The passage of the Good Samaritan law was a major victory. That said, we still have a high rate of overdose deaths, continued difficulty with getting insurance to pay for treatment and still FAR too many people getting their hands on prescription painkillers.
We need a lot of help. I’d like to see a recovery high school in New Jersey. We need a forward thinking superintendent to take a chance on creating an alternative school (it’s foolish to send a kid to rehab and then have them return to the very school where they were abusing drugs and/or booze). We need more Recovery College programs (even though it is an incredibly successful niche for Rutgers and myself, I desperately want to see more in NJ and throughout the USA). We need to drug test those that are getting prescription painkillers (to see if they are on other drugs, and more importantly, to see if they are actually taking the drugs they are prescribed (and not selling them) –>that’s an idea from 2 leading insurance companies, not mine). We need more training on this issue for tweens, teens, parents, teachers and clinicians. We need to expand the prescription drug monitoring program (which is already incredibly successful). We need more treatment options. Each dollar spent now saves between four and seven dollars down the road (criminal justice, healthcare, diminished work capacity, etc…).
Please spread the word. Educate one other person. If you are supremely motivated, call your state legislator and pass on whatever suggestions I made above to them. Change can happen from the ground up.
(mic drop)
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2013305050025
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http://cliffviewpilot.com/gov-christie-signs-good-samaritan-overdose-bill-into-law-with-bon-jovi/
I advocate on issues that pertain to substance abuse. I along with some other amazing parents, have worked hard to get this bill passed in the state of NJ. Well, the day finally came, and our Governor along with Jon Bon Jovi, signed this new bill. That’s me in the background…This would have not been possible without due diligence from Patty DeRenzo. She is an amazing woman who has made a huge difference in saving lives!!
Gov. Christie signs ‘good Samaritan’ overdose bill into law, with Bon Jovi
YOU READ IT HERE FIRST: With Jon Bon Jovi joining him, Gov. Christie today signed the bipartisan Overdose Protection Act into law at a drug rehab center in Paterson — providing protection from prosecution to those who help overdose victims or those who administer antidotes in life-threatening situations.
New Jersey’s General Assembly on Monday approved the compromise Good Samaritan law, which legislators said is aimed at helping to save lives and prevent drug overdoses.
The 68-2-6 vote came on a new measure that incorporates components of both the bill known as the “Opioid Antidote and Overdose Prevention Act,” which was conditionally vetoed by Gov. Christie that same day and the “Good Samaritan Act,” which he conditionally vetoed last fall.
The new measure provide s immunity for witnesses and victims of drug overdoses in order to help get timely medical treatment.
It also provides civil, criminal, and professional immunity for health care professionals involved in prescribing, dispensing, or administering naloxone or any similarly acting, FDA-approved drug for the treatment of an opioid overdose.
“No life is disposable, and this bill represents a giant leap forward in New Jersey’s commitment to protecting and preserving all life, particularly when people need it most,” said Governor Christie. “As elected officials, it’s our obligation to ensure that we are doing everything we can to prevent tragic deaths from drug overdoses, and I believe this bill will do that.
“I’m grateful that we were able to come together and reach this bipartisan compromise and take meaningful action on this very important issue today.”
Bon Jovi reportedly has a daughter in college who wasn’t charged after an apparent overdose last year thanks to a similar law in New York state.
Patty DiRenzo of Blackwood, who also attended, had a much deeper reason: She fought hard for a good Samaritan law after her son, Salvatore, died of a drug overdose at 27.
“If people are no longer afraid of getting arrested in overdose situations, they will be more likely to call 911 and get help,” she said. “This new law will save lives, and I am grateful to Governor Christie and the legislature for all their efforts in making it possible.”
Her son’s death, “like so many others in New Jersey, could have been prevented if the people he was with had called 911 for help,” DiRenzo said. “But they didn’t, most likely for fear of arrest. Instead, Sal was left alone to die.
Most overdose victims don’t die until hours after they’ve taken a drug, studies show. Supporters of good Samaritan laws say that’s because those people — as well as those who know or are with them — often are afraid they’ll be arrested and prosecuted if they call police.
“Deaths from drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death in New Jersey, but many of these deaths could be prevented if medical assistance were sought immediately without the fear of arrest or prosecution,” state Assemblywoman Connie Wagner of Bergen County said.
“It’s my hope that this legislation will not only save lives, but also provide a moment of clarity to help many with substance abuse problems turn their lives around,” Wagner said.
New York and Connecticut are among a small number of states that already have similar laws in place.
In incorporating the components of the Good Samaritan Act, the New Jersey measure protects a person from arrest, charge, prosecution, or conviction if he or she sought medical assistance for someone experiencing a drug overdose and the evidence for the offense was obtained as a result of the person’s efforts to obtain the medical assistance.
The same prosecutorial immunity would also apply to a victim of a drug overdose who sought medical assistance or was the subject of a good faith request for such assistance.
State lawmakers also noted that naloxone is an inexpensive and easily administered antidote for an overdose of opioids such as morphine, heroin, OxyContin, Percocet and Vicodin. Specifically, naloxone is used to counteract life-threatening depression of the central nervous system and respiratory system, allowing an overdose victim to breathe normally.
In addition to providing immunity for health care professionals who administer the antidote, the bill would also provide immunity for other individuals if the action was taken during an emergency — and the person believed in good faith that another person was experiencing an opioid overdose.
“Statistics show that states without an opioid overdose prevention program have far higher overdose death rates than others,” said state Assemblyman Thomas Giblin, who represents Passaic and Essex. “[I]n the case of an overdose, fear and panic often cloud a person’s judgment.”
According to a study released last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), naloxone has reversed 10,171 drug overdoses, saving thousands of lives, since 1996.
The CDC also noted that 19 of the 25 states with drug overdose death rates higher than the median and nine of the 13 states in the highest quartile didn’t have a community-based opioid overdose prevention program that distributed naloxone.
“The Overdose Protection Act will help people get treatment faster in life-threatening situations. It is an important tool in our ongoing efforts here in New Jersey to prevent senseless deaths and to get people into treatment” said Dr. Manuel Guantez, CEO of Turning Point, an addiction treatment program in Paterson that treats more than 2,700 men and women each year.
The measure doesn’t promise blanket immunity. You can still be charged if police find evidence of a serious crime. They also can seize drugs, paraphernalia and other contraband.
“This is not about turning a blind eye to drug use, but hopefully saving lives during a potentially fatal overdose,” said state Assemblyman Angel Fuentes of Camden. “And once they are in the hands of medical professionals, hopefully they will receive the additional help they need to overcome any addictions.”
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