Protect yourself and your loved ones from prescription painkiller abuse and overdose death by securing, monitoring and disposing of your medications. Every day, 44 people in the U.S. die from overdose of prescription painkillers, and many more become addicted.

• More than 1,600 teens begin abusing prescription drugs each day.
• Almost 1 in every 4 teens in America say they have misused or abused a prescription drug.
• One in five teens (20%) who have abused prescription drugs did so before the age of 14.
• 9% of teens in a recent study reported using prescription pain relievers not prescribed for them in the past year, and 5% (1 in 20) reported doing so in the past month.

Community Prevention Partners Prescription Drug Initiative address misuse and abuse due to ease of access and over-prescription. Healthcare professionals, educators and community members work together to create strategies to: 

• Increase awareness of the issue to multiple audiences, i.e. parents, healthcare professionals, community members, students (middle school and older)
• Decrease access to prescription drugs through proper storage, monitoring and disposal
• Promote convenient disposal locations and Take Back Days
• Increase healthcare professionals use of the CURES statewide prescription tracking system to decrease multiple/ over-prescription
• Advocate for Extended Producer Responsibility Ordinance

PRESCRIPTION DRUG FACTS