Friday, April 29, 2011

National Medication Take Back Day Tomorrow

While the abuse of street drugs is on the decline, the abuse of prescription drugs (especially opioid medications) is rising dramatically. And that’s not just among the young—drug abuse among the baby-boom population increased by more than 50 percent between 2002 and 2008. To help get unused prescription drugs out of circulation, the Drug Enforcement Administration is sponsoring “National Medication Take Back Day” on April 30 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. More than 5,300 police departments and other sites are participating. Last week the White House released a federal plan to curtail the nation’s prescription drug abuse epidemic. For more information on the plan, watch for the May 6 issue of Psychiatric News at http://pn.psychiatryonline.org/content/46/10.toc. The issue also contains an article about physicians’ need to monitor pain control medication more tightly while still prescribing it appropriately.