NOPE Vigils Aim to Eliminate Prejudice Toward Drug Abuse

By Karen Perry

As we know, so many lives have been tragically destroyed or lost to substance abuse. Too often, the disease of addiction is perceived as deserved and shameful, leaving loved ones to grieve in silence or addicts to struggle alone.

The NOPE National Candlelight Vigil strives to change that.

During the last week in October, in conjunction with Red Ribbon Week, we are raising awareness and opening the doors to recovery through our vigils in more than 50 communities across the U.S. Through speakers, compelling images, and moments of silence, the participants will understand the disease of addiction, which shows no prejudice to people of any walk of life or background.

NOPE believes that once someone understands the depth of addition, he or she will eliminate the prejudice that engulfs the disease and remove the shame that comes with it. We also believe that acceptance of the disease can be humbling to the soul and empowering to those in need of help.

That’s what we hope will be the takeaway for the thousands of people expected to attend our vigils, most of which will be held on Oct. 27.

At our main vigil event in West Palm Beach, Fla., Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi will be keynote speaker. At other events, our nation’s drug czar, Director Gil Kerlikowske of the Office of National Drug Control Policy, will address the audience in a recorded speech.

This is our fifth annual vigil. As our event has grown in recent years, unfortunately so has our nation’s drug overdose epidemic. This year, there have been great strides to reverse the trend: new anti-drug laws have appeared in many states; and many more elected officials, including President Obama, have championed the cause of reducing these senseless deaths. Still, the death rates remain high and continue to climb in many parts of the country.

We’re happy to report, though, that in Palm Beach County, Fla., where NOPE is headquartered, the overdose numbers have dropped, likely because of high-profile advocacy and educational campaigns as well as aggressive law enforcement efforts launched by our many partners. So that tells you something: when communities make reducing drug abuse a high priority, the problems tend to diminish.

So I urge you, your families, and your friends to find the time and attend one of our upcoming vigils near your town. Here are the locations: nopetaskforce.org/vigils_locations.asp. If the closest vigil is too far away, host a small vigil in your home. Here are the instructions on how to do that: nopetaskforce.org/vigils_host.asp.

Help us in honoring the memories of those lost to drugs and eliminating prejudice for those suffering from substance abuse.

“Take-Back” Programs Offer Safe Disposals of Prescription Drugs

By Karen H. Perry,

The home medicine cabinet is a minefield.

Each day, nearly 2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time – and a majority of those pills are known to come from family and friends, including the medicine cabinet.

With children going back to school, now is the perfect time to clean out your medicine cabinet. There are many ways to do this depending on how organized or attuned your community is to this issue.

Most leftover and expired medicines can be thrown in the household trash, and a few can be flushed down the toilet. But I suggest taking advantage of the growing number of community-based “take-back” programs that offer a safer disposal alternative.

These convenient, cost-effective programs allow the public to bring unused drugs to a central location for proper disposal.  The drop-off locations vary across the country. Many are at police departments. Others are at temporary places like pharmacies and community centers. All of them use secure equipment and strict procedures to prevent theft or diversion.

I’ve seen first-hand in Florida as nervous parents returned containers of old drugs, fearful that their toddlers will get their hands on them or that their teens will want to experiment with them.

It’s no joke. Home medicine cabinets have become the new drug dealers. But it’s one drug dealer that parents can put a stop to.

For me, the take-back programs are the only secure and environmentally sound way to dispose of unwanted pharmaceuticals without contaminating surface and ground waters.

Started in the mid-2010s, the take-back programs spread fast to keep up with the prescription drug abuse epidemic that kills thousands and thousands of people annually in the United States. The effort picked up steam when the Drug Enforcement Administration organized the National Prescription Drug Take Back Days in September 2010, April 2011, and again this past August. Nearly 4,000 state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the nation have participated in these events, collecting more than 309 tons of pills.

Another national take-back day is planned for October 29. Check the website of the National Prescription Drug Take Back Days (www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov) to find upcoming events in your area.

Unfortunately, many communities still don’t have permanent programs to properly dispose of waste medications. As a result, many consumers keep prescribed drugs in their medicine cabinets and other places for a long time, not knowing how to get rid of them properly.

According to the Food and Drug Administration, the following steps need to be taken to dispose of unused medication:

• Follow any specific disposal instructions on the drug label or patient information that accompanies the medication. Do not flush prescription drugs down the toilet unless this information specifically instructs you to do so.

• If no instructions are given on the drug label and no take-back program is available in your area, throw the drugs in the household trash, but first:

  --Take them out of their original containers and mix them with an undesirable substance, such as used coffee grounds or kitty litter. The medication will be less appealing to children and pets, and unrecognizable to people who may intentionally go through your trash.

-- Put them in a sealable bag, empty can, or other container to prevent the medication from leaking or breaking out of a garbage bag.

Hopefully, it won’t be too long before take-back programs reach most corners of the country.  This will address the real concern that teens could misuse these very accessible drugs.

Until that happens, let’s all make sure we clean out the medicine cabinets and get potentially dangerous leftover drugs out of our homes.

Karen H. Perry is the executive director of NOPE Task Force.

Florida’s Drug Overdose Epidemic

Karen H. Perry, NOPE Task Force

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a new report that undoubtedly surprised many across our nation: In Florida alone, prescription drug overdoses claimed 16,650 lives from 2003 to 2009 -- an average of eight deaths a day.
I’m sure they are wondering: What in the world is going on in the Sunshine State?
For me, and so many others on the frontline of fighting prescription pills abuse in Florida, the report documented an epidemic that we have lived with for more than a decade.
It’s been a devastating problem here, spread by the silence and misunderstanding over addiction and by the underworld pill mill economy run by rogue doctors and pharmacists who encouraged doctor shopping.
We weren’t shocked by the CDC numbers showing that annual prescription drug overdose deaths jumped by 61 percent, from 1,804 to 2,905, during those years. Prescription medications, for example, were implicated in 76 percent of all drug overdose deaths in Florida, while drugs like heroin and cocaine were implicated in 33 percent of the deaths.
Prescription drug abuse is a part of daily life across Florida. You can’t overlook it.
Go on the Internet, turn on the radio, and look at the billboards along highways, and there’s countless advertisements for pain clinics offering incentives to visit their many locations, which are conveniently placed at major intersections and strip malls.
Anti-drug advocates have done our best to counter this ad blitz and the general perception, especially among teenagers, that taking medicated pills isn’t dangerous.
At Narcotics Overdose Prevention & Education (NOPE) Task Force, which was started in West Palm Beach following the back-to-back overdose deaths of several teenagers, we expanded our blunt school presentations to highlight how easy it is to overdose on pharmaceuticals.
Our partner agency, Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office, established a solid profile of a typical victim of a drug overdose, based on information compiled from hundreds of drug-related death investigations. This profile is now being used to educate the public about the realities of who is susceptible to prescription abuse.
And that’s just part of our work.
Many other organizations in Florida have done their share as well to highlight the deadly effects of prescription drug abuse.
Still, as we now know from the CDC statists, none of this was enough to stop the fast spread of the epidemic.
Today, we have new and powerful forces in our court: a governor and state legislators who have passed measures to control excessive prescriptions by pain doctors and clinics; and President Obama whose administration has drafted a comprehensive action plan on prescription drug abuse.
Tragically, hundreds of people are still dying from drug overdoses in the Sunshine State. But hopefully, in the very near future, these new government initiatives, along with all the grassroots educational efforts, will bring those numbers down and end this terrible chapter in our state’s history.
Karen H. Perry is the Executive Director of NOPE Task Force.