Posted on June 13, 2009

With prescription medication abuse on the rise among adolescents, it is extremely important to take steps to help ensure your teen won’t fall into this dangerous behavior. Even if you think this could never happen to your teen, keep in mind that 19 percent of all teens have abused prescription drugs and there’s no guarantee it won’t happen in your family. You’ll want to start with your medicine cabinet because prescription drug abuse usually begins there.

1.) Monitor Medication. Nearly two-thirds of teens who have abused prescription medication have gotten it from friends and/or relatives, usually without their knowledge. Keep track of all your prescription medications, and make sure every family member’s prescriptions are kept in the same place so you can take inventory. This way you can easily notice if pills start disappearing. It’s also a good idea to talk to your teen’s friends’ parents about monitoring their own cabinets, as it’s likely that your teen will be over at their home and have access to the medicine cabinet.

2.) Dispose of Medication. Drugs that are no longer being used by anyone in the household are an easy way for teens to get their hands on medication without being caught. Keep track of all current medications and discard any that are no longer being used or are expired. Don’t just throw away the bottle, though; place the remaining pills in an opaque container with a secure lid and mix in something undesirable like coffee grounds, dirt, or cat litter. Then place the container in an opaque bag and discard.

3.) Secure Medication. As the medicine cabinet is the first place teens will look for prescription drugs, it’s a good idea to keep your medication in a less obvious, safer place. If you had a firearm in the house, you would lock that away—why not do the same with dangerous medications?