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.

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“Approximately six out of 10 teenagers agree that prescription drugs are easy to get from their parents’ medicine cabinets, and cited medicine cabinets as the main source of obtaining prescription drugs. ”
— Partnership for a Drug Free America. 2009
  • 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.
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The SafeRx Community Education and Engagement Initiative is a group of healthcare professionals, parents, government and youth serving agencies working  together to develop and publicize patient and community education  around prescription medication safety and reduce unnecessary prescription drug access.  

  • 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
    FIND A DROP-OFF SITE
  • Increase healthcare professionals use of the CURES statewide prescription tracking system to decrease multiple/ over-prescription
  • Support the roll out of the Extended Producer Responsibility Ordinance in all Santa Cruz County jurisdictions.  
    Article on Extended Producer Responsibility Ordinance: http://bit.ly/2GUUB7l
     

PRESCRIPTION DRUG FACTS

“In 2014, 54% of deaths in Santa Cruz County related to overdose (32 of 58) involved prescription drugs”
“69% of county residents reported that they store medications where they are easily accessible ”
— CPP Store Monitor Dispose Survey 2014