Recently, through the Generation Rx organization, I visited a middle school to talk with eighth grade students regarding medication safety and proper medication disposal. This was a very enlightening experience to say the least. While preparing for the presentations I learned some surprising stats, here are a few I thought were interesting:
- 1 in 5 teens report abusing medications that were not prescribed to them.
- Every day, 2,500 youth (aged 12-17) abuse a prescription pain reliever for the very first time.
- 40% of teens consider the abuse of prescription drugs to be much safer than street drugs, which is false.
The format of the presentation encouraged audience participation, which allowed me to understand what young teens today think of prescription drug abuse and misuse. Through this interaction I realized the great impact commercial advertising has made on these teens by how well they remembered prescription commercials. In all three of the classes I presented in, a student had mentioned the Nasonex bee as an advertisement that stuck with them. I couldn't help but smile because every time a student mentioned that commercial, Antonio Banderas's voice would come to mind. This scenario helped me realize a very important point, marketing and advertisements can easily persuade a patient to take or not take a certain drug. With that, it is our responsibility as pharmacists to inform patients whether or not a medication is appropriate for their situation despite what an advertisement recommends.
The presentation concluded with the showing of a short public service announcement video created by the University of Iowa College of Pharmacy. This video illustrates the dangers of prescription drug abuse, given three real-life scenarios. The feedback from the eighth graders was very positive, they were impressed by the quality and message of the video. I would also have to agree with them on that. I would like to hear your opinions on this public service announcement, let me know what you think!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KWobauzOU0E
-Office of National Drug Control Policy, 2008
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