How to Help Half a Million Teens from Abusing Medicine

Pin It One of the biggest milestones during the teen years is getting a drivers license. While parents may dread the day their teen gets on the road, they should also be aware of another milestone, a tragic one, which is impacting families across the nation. More Americans die from drug overdoses than in car crashes, driven by prescription painkiller overdoses.

• 1 in 6 teens admits to abusing prescription drugs.
• One person dies every 19 minutes from a drug overdose in the United States, and this increasing trend is driven by prescription painkillers.
• Two-thirds (65 percent) of teens who abuse prescription painkillers say they get them from family members and friends.

The Partnership at Drugfree.org with a coalition of partners is pursuing a goal of preventing half a million teens from abusing medicine within five years. Launched during the week of September 23^rd, The Medicine Abuse Project will bring together families, communities, health care and industry professionals, educators, and law enforcement and government officials to stop teen medicine abuse.

You can help by taking two simple steps:

• Take the Pledge to learn more and stop teen medicine abuse.
• Take control of your medicine: store medicine securely and participate in a Take-Back Day on Saturday, September 29th.

Find additional information as well as a full list of the launch week events at medicineabuseproject.org.