What's In Your Medicine Cabinet?
What’s in your Medicine Cabinet? Prescription drug abuse can happen right at home. Teens are more likely to have abused prescription medications such as Vicodyn, Oxycntin, and Xanax than to have tried illicit drugs including cocaine and ecstasy. It has become increasingly prevalent among adolescents and young adults where most children start experimenting at the age of 12.
According to Steven M. Marcus, MD, Pediatrician, Medical Toxicologist and Medical Director of NJPIES, the use of OTC cough and cold preparations by adolescents in search of a “cheap and legal high” has reached near epidemic proportions”. Dr. Marcus stated that over the past 8 years, New Jersey has experienced a steady increase in unintentional poisoning deaths. Currently, the number of deaths related to unintentional poisonings exceeds those of homicides and are quickly approaching the death rates associated with motor vehicle accidents in the state.
The poison center has launched a study group charged with addressing the issues of unintentional deaths related to poisonings. Parents, teachers, young adults and teens should educate themselves on the serious and life-threatening consequences of abusing prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines. Everyone should be aware that sharing your prescription with someone else could threaten his or her lives as well.
Help is only a phone call away. For more information regarding drugs of abuse, call the Poison control Center at 1-800-222-1222. Services are free and confidential. The hotline is accessible 24 hours per day, 7 days a week. Hearing impaired may call 973-926-8008.
