Abuse of Prescription & Over-the-Counter Medicines

The Problem
Major research studies on adolescent drug abuse report an alarming number of teenagers are “pharming” – abusing a host of chemical products and medicines intentionally to get high. The latest Partnership Attitude Tracking Study reports:

• Nearly one in five (more than four million) teens has intentionally abused prescription pain medications;
• One in 10 (more than two million) teens has abused prescription stimulants; One in 10 has abused OTC cough medicines with the ingredient dextromethorphan (DXM);
• One in four teens has a friend who abuses medicines to get high and one in three has been offered an Rx or OTC medicine for the purpose of abuse, suggesting Rx and OTC medicine abuse has penetrated teen culture and become “normalized;” in fact,
• Teen abuse of prescription and OTC medicines is greater than the combined abuse of Ecstasy, methamphetamine, crack/cocaine and heroin. 

Teens learn about ”pharming” from multiple sources, particularly through the Internet. Research indicates two key factors in driving this abuse:

•  The misperception that intentionally abusing medicines is not harmful, and 
•  The ease of access to these drugs through a medicine cabinet at home or at a friend’s house and through the Internet.

Education Reduces Abuse
Effective programs in reducing substance abuse – like those that reduced the teen use of cocaine, Ecstasy and cigarettes – have focused on changing attitudes to reduce demand. Especially important have been efforts to generate greater involvement by parents and other family influencers in the decisions their kids are making about abusing drugs: the Partnership’s research has shown that kids who report learning a lot about the risks of abuse from their parents are up to 50 percent less likely to use drugs as those who don’t. Unfortunately, most parents are either unaware or in denial about their kids’ vulnerability and exposure to the intentional abuse of Rx and OTC medicines.

The Rx and OTC Medicine Abuse Education Campaign
In May 2006 the Partnership, with support from the Consumer Healthcare Products Association and its member companies, will launch a comprehensive, multi-year prevention communications campaign to encourage parents to educate themselves about the medications kids are abusing, communicate with their kids about the difference between good medicine and bad behavior and to safeguard their own medications – and ask their friends to do the same.

In addition to press outreach and public relations efforts, components of the campaign will include:

New Public Service Advertising

Television

• “The Hood” depicts a teen girl swiping Rx medicine from the family’s medicine cabinet.
• “Pharm Town” reminds parents almost every home in America contains legally available, highly accessible medications teens can intentionally abuse to get high.
• “Rx Label” features a medicine bottle highlighting the risk of intentional abuse.
  

Radio

• Three “Guess What” commercials feature teens telling their parents not to worry that they’re using drugs like pot or cocaine to get high – they’re using what they find in the medicine cabinet.
• New Spanish-language radio spots are also available.
  

Magazine and Newspaper 

• “Rx Label” features the label of a medicine bottle to highlight the risk of intentional abuse.
• “Shopping Cart” shows a grocery store cart with a warning: Don’t leave your kids alone in the cough medicine aisle.
• “Medicine Cabinet” conveys message that some prescriptions are viewed as medicine for some, but can be drugs of abuse for others. 
•  “Note to Mom” tells parents their kids may be abusing cough medicine without their knowledge. (Spanish-Language)
  
  All advertising was created pro bono through the generosity of Grey Worldwide, Lumina Films, DDB Chicago, Dieste Harmel & Partners (Spanish-language) and a number of production companies. All actors appear pro bono through the generosity of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.
  
  Partnership staff will work with national and local media to gain pro bono airings and placements. Since the Partnership was founded 20 years ago, the media have provided generous pro bono support for the Partnership’s drug-free education message.
  
  New Interactive Web Sites
  The parent site at http://www.drugfree.org/Parent/ includes frequently asked questions (FAQ), slang terms, video stories of two abusers and their parents, downloadable brochures in English and Spanish, and other resources.
  
  The teen-targeted site at www.dxmstories.com includes an irreverent animated cartoon character demonstrating the effects of cough medicine abuse (such as vomiting, cardiac arrest, delirium, and muscle spasms), video stories of six abusers, a way for people to submit their own story, facts about DXM abuse, slang terms, toll-free numbers and websites for organizations that provide help and counseling and a database of more than 11,000 alcohol and drug abuse treatment centers.
  
  The Partnership’s website also includes a great deal of content about the abuse of prescription medications. Parents and teens will be encouraged to visit these sites through the drugfree.org tag in the public service advertising and the first-ever search engine marketing effort done by the Partnership.
  
  Campaign Evaluation
  The Rx and OTC Medicine Abuse Education Campaign will be evaluated on multiple measures over a period of three to five years. Key trends to be followed will include parental awareness of the problem, levels of parent-child communication about the problem, teen attitudes toward Rx and OTC medicine abuse and rates of abuse of the various medicines. Primary research studies to be used for the evaluation will include the Partnership’s Attitude Tracking Study (teen and parent samples), Monitoring the Future study from the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, and the National Survey on Drug Use and Health conducted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.