Sign Up for Drug Facts Chat Day
If you work with teens and have access to a bank of computers, you may want to sign up for Drug Facts Chat Day (Tuesday, January 28, 2014). This video from this year's Chat Day will give you more information.
You can sign up at http://teens.drugabuse.gov/ndfw/register.
It's That Time Again!
In the previous seven collections, 1,771 tons of pill have been collected! This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Unused medicines stored in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.
Take Only As Directed
The CDC has labelled prescription drug abuse as an epidemic. The DEA estimates that every 14 minutes someone in the US dies from an unintentional overdoses. For every death, 10 people are admitted into treatment, and 28 people are treated in an emergency room. 6700 people START misusing Rx drug every day.
This media campaign by the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services describes the problem, helps identify signs of abuse, provides information about treatment and recovery, and has links to more resources. This information can be found at http://www.takeonlyasdirected.com/
Residential Recovery Court Opens in NE TN
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| From TN Department Of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services Newsletter |
What Do We Want? DATA!
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| Image from Nation of Change |
Funding for alcohol, tobacco and drug prevention has been part of No Child Left Behind legislation (now called the Elementary and Secondary Education Act - ESEA). Without getting into the politics of whether this legislation is achieving its purpose, an improvement to the bill could help our Coalition efforts. In particular:
- continue collecting core data (in current act) including*:
- which substances are most abused
- how often are they used
- when do our young people start using the substance
- what is their perception of harm
- what is their perception of parental or societal disapproval
- defining the core components of prevention activities to include:
- awareness of the costs and consequences of drug use and abuse
- updated information about changing attitudes
- perceptions and social norms about the dangers and acceptability of drug use
- reduced access to alcohol, tobacco and other drugs
*Although specific data collection is already defined in the bill, the "trickle down" has not yet reached Sullivan County. The Coalition needs to include this component so we might eventually benefit from its inclusion. These are the data points that are needed to apply for other prevention grants.
Coalition Meeting Highlights
(Upper left) Reps. Jon Lundberg and Timothy Hill listening to coalition members (below). Certificates of Appreciation were presented to the Sullivan County Sheriff’s Office (upper right), the Bristol Police Department (middle right), and the Kingsport Police Department (bottom right) for their efforts in reducing the amount of unused medication available for abuse.
“And” / “or” - It Makes a Difference
Representatives Jon Lundberg and Timothy Hill reported that synthetic drug legislation was improved by the change of and to or. Prosecutors no longer need to prove all of the conditions stated in the law to place charges.
Retail tobacco compliance checks were also improved by another tweak. Compliance checks can now be carried out in everyone county in Tennessee.
It is too early to see any patterns in the data collected since the April implementation of Prescription Safety Act of 2012 , but a great discussion pointed out some of the remaining issues for consideration.
For the upcoming session, the Coalition was assured that hemp farm legislation was unlikely to pass. The biggest debate may be whether pseudoephedrine will require a prescription.
The Coalition also presented certificates of appreciation to all of our local law enforcement agencies in gratitude for their efforts to reduce the supply of prescription drugs in our county.
Annual Meeting with Legislators
Please join us. Hear Reps. Jon Lundberg and Timothy Hill talk about last year's accomplishments and the upcoming session. What do you want to see happen? Come tell them.
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