Letter - Response to 'A prescription for trouble'

To the editor:

I am writing in response to the article titled A prescription for trouble, published in the January 25 Echo Press.

The Minnesota Pharmacist’s Foundation founded AWARxE in 2009 to combat prescription drug abuse. The main goal of this program is to educate parents and children about misuse of prescription drugs.

The most common misconception is that prescriptions are safe because they come from a doctor/pharmacy. Prescriptions are only written when the benefits of taking the medication greatly outweigh the risk the drug may pose to a person’s health.

During the 2011-2012 school year, University of Minnesota student pharmacists delivered 99 presentations about drug abuse. These presentations reached more than 5,000 students, including right here in Alexandria. For more information, visit www.awarerx.org.

Parents can help by speaking with their children about misuse and sharing of medications, and establishing an ongoing dialogue about the dangers of drug abuse. They can also safeguard drugs by storing their medications in a secure location and disposing of old medications appropriately. Most importantly, they should be a positive role model and take their medication at the appropriate dose and duration as directed by a healthcare professional.

Remember, it is a felony crime to share any prescription drug with someone other than to whom it was prescribed! Additionally, I would like to reassure patients using prescribed opiates as directed and under the care of their physician for chronic pain, that they are not seen as drug addicts. Opiate pain medications are in the same class as heroin, but are not the same drug. Addiction to pain killers is a possibility, not a certainty.

Brian Erickson, Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate interning at Trumm Drug

NDSU College of Pharmacy

Fargo, ND

Tags: opinion, letters