"Generation Rx" Program targets prescription abuse

[void]

Program targets prescription drug abuse - Pekin Daily Times
08-28-2009 06:57 PM



Read Full Article Here...


(This thread was automatically posted from Google's RSS feed for news articles containing the term 'Dextromethorphan')

[koala infestation... robots]

PEKIN, Ill. - It’s not the illegal drugs that kids can buy from the corner dealer that parents have to worry so much about these days — it’s the prescriptions that parents bring into their own homes from the corner pharmacy.
“I think it is important that I know about this because, though I have a really good kid and I don’t think he would ever do this, it will help me look for the signs and know what to do,” said Nicole Fitch, mother of an incoming freshman at Pekin Community High School. “It does concern me — people can go to about any doctor and get a prescription for pain.
“I went to the dentist and he gave me Tramadol for a toothache and said, ‘Here’s something for the pain — not, ‘Take some ibuprofen.’ I keep my meds where my kids would never find them.”
During curriculum night at PCHS Thursday, parents got a sneak preview of what their children will be learning in health class this year about the abuse of prescription medications.
The parent-only audience was the first in the county to reap the benefits of the new program
“Generation Rx,” which was initiated in April by Tazewell County Sheriff Robert Huston and Tazewell County Coroner Dennis Conover after the deaths of five Tazewell County residents between the ages of 20 and 55 from the abuse of prescription medications in a 14-day period.
The program will be presented to more than 2,100 students at all Tazewell County high schools in 72 50-minute sessions during the 2009-10 school year. Two additional classes will be conducted at the Tazewell County Justice Center for parents and teens alike. The $6,200 program will be paid for by Tazewell County Sheriff’s Department’s drug forfeiture account, which comes mainly from the seizure of drug dealers’ assets.
PCHS Assistant Principal Danielle Owens said this is the first year that a speaker has been invited to address parents on curriculum night and that she hopes speakers will be included in future curriculum nights to talk to parents about issues like drugs.
Owens said the night had a twofold purpose — to get parents to the school and involved in their children’s education, and to give them important information “about a major issue of concern not only in Pekin, but nationwide.”
The Hult Center for Health Education provides much of the health education for the high school, Owens said. District 303 went to Hult some time ago asking for programming to address the prescription drug abuse issues that were starting to appear in the school, and Huston and Conover extended the program to a countywide effort to educate children and their parents about the dangers of prescription drugs after the increase in prescription drug deaths in the spring.
Teens cannot go to the doctor and get a prescription on their own, Owens said, but the issue is that teenagers are taking the drugs from their parents, relatives and friends. During the program, parents were told to lock their medicine cabinets and monitor prescription medications that their children take to make sure they are taken properly and all accounted for.
Another problem is that many families have lost track of prescription drugs in the house that are no longer being used and not locked away, Owens said.
She said that even students recognize the dangers of prescription drugs. The Peer Advisory Council at PCHS has started a poster campaign with an anti-drug message directed at prescription medications.
Hult outreach health educator Anne Howerton said Hult started its program at PCHS about a year and a half ago with the help from a Peoria pharmacy in developing the content.
She said this is the first time she has presented to parents the same program their children will hear in health class.
Parents learned about the symptoms of drug use and about the three main groups of medications teens abuse — opioids such as Vicodin and OxyContin, stimulants such as Ritalin, and antidepressants such as Xanax. Over-the-counter cough medications with dextromethorphan as an ingredient are also commonly abused, Howerton said.
“The students always ask about certain drugs, and it doesn’t matter what school I’m in — they always bring up Vicodin,” she said
The program presented to students this year will include examples of famous people who died from prescription medication, such a Heath Ledger.
Howerton said parents work hard to keep their children safe but many times fail to recognize all the dangers that lurk.
“Parents realize the dangers of alcohol and they lock up the liquor cabinet, but they don’t recognize that they have to lock up the medicine cabinet,” she said. “These pharm parties — kids just don’t realize what kind of trouble they can get themselves into.
“Kids realize that street drugs can hurt them, but they don’t realize that prescription drugs can kill them.”
Faye Kesselmayer, parent of a PCHS sophomore, said her daughter has not mentioned anything about seeing drug abuse at school but that she has heard other students talk about it. Her daughter takes more notice of other high school drama, Kesselmayer said, but that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have concerns as a parent.
“I think we all need to be aware of it — watch it and be aware of it,” she said. “There is always a risk with prescription drugs.
“Parents need to get educated and know what the risks are. There is a potential for (abuse) for anyone — adults too. I think education and prevention are important.”
Kesselmayer said Huston’s decision to use drug offender money to fund the program was a good idea.

I really dislike how they just toss Dextromethorphan in the mix with any discussion about prescription drug abuse. It is like they attach a giant sign to it which reads, "...and this is the one you can buy at the store (kids)."

[setian]

Its entirely unfair to do that, DXM isn't anywhere near Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, or Methylphenidate

[Musmaro]

Originally Posted by setian

Its entirely unfair to do that, DXM isn't anywhere near Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, or Methylphenidate

Really, it isn't. But in society's eyes, it doesn't matter. If you can get high from it, it's a drug and it's bad. Which is ironic considering how many of those people who think that smoke and/or drink.

[§əāИ ΜĉĐə√îŧŦ]

Originally Posted by setian

Its entirely unfair to do that, DXM isn't anywhere near Oxycodone, Hydrocodone, or Methylphenidate

I completely agree with you, but you can over abuse any drug to the point of being abusive of it. Regardless if it's an opiate or an hallucinogen, they can all be abused, which is the point. If we do these drugs we should make sure everybody else knows how to do it, safely. Amen?

[Quon]

Quick, get these kids some weed!

[setian]

ahhhhh yes any thing not used in moderation is being abused, i wonder how many people even consider that when they look at people that just use drugs responsibly but thats why im a piece of shit and my painkiller addicted judge is a saint

[Quon]

I just think that pain killers are an especially poor drug to abuse... especially for teens.

Nice quote setian. RAW is amazing... in fact that's who my avatar is (pic from the intelligence agents by leary). I'm reading Quantum Psychology by him. What have you read?

[setian]

so do i