Underage Drinking Rates Increase During the Often-Times Unmonitored Summer Months

With students out of school and parents at work, the summer months provide a prime opportunity for teens to be unmonitored. The tips below can shared with parents to set the community-wide tone that underage drinking is unsafe, unhealthy, and unacceptable.

• Set Summertime Rules: Make clear your rules regarding unsupervised time spent with friends, as well as your expectations surrounding drinking, smoking and other risky behaviors.
  
• Supervise: This can be challenging for parents of high school students; however, be physically present when you can. And when you can’t, try asking a neighbor to randomly check in.
  
• Monitor: Know with whom and where your child is at all times. Randomly call and text your teen to check in, and don’t be afraid to check up on your child by calling another parent.
  
• Engage: Provide some structure to your teen’s summer by helping him/her find a summer job or engaging him/her in a supervised activity (sports, camps, classes, etc.).
  
• Team Up: Get to know the parents of your teen's friends. Speak with them to ensure you have a unified and consistent no-use stance.
  
• Stay Involved: Show your teen you care by taking time out of your busy schedule to do something fun and interactive together this summer (head to the movies, volunteer together, take a bike ride, etc.).
  
• Communicate: Regardless of season, it is always a good time to talk to your teen about the dangers of alcohol, tobacco and other drugs. Open (or maintain) the lines of communication and be your child’s trusted source of information.

Ohio, Marshall County Host Merchant Roundtable

Moundsville, W. Va. - The Ohio County Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition and the Marshall County Anti-Drug Coalition have joined together to host a "Merchant Roundtable" for tobacco and alcohol merchants on Tuesday, June 14, 2011 at Grand Vue Park's Banquet Hall in Moundsville, W. Va. Participants are able to choose from one of two sessions: the morning session will run from 9:00-10:00am and the afternoon session will run from 2:00-3:00pm. Community members are also encouraged to attend.

Marshall County Sheriff John Gruzinskas will speak on the laws against selling to minors, and a Trooper from the West Virginia State Police, Wheeling Detachment will speak about the SYNAR compliance inspections. The SYNAR legislation, passed in 1992, requires states to conduct random, unannounced inspections in order to stop the illegal sale of tobacco to minors.

Forty-five merchants from Ohio County and 38 merchants from Marshall County have been invited to attend the roundtable. Merchants will be given information and marketing materials from the merchant education campaign, “WE Hold UP IDs” developed by United in Prevention. The campaign focuses on aiding businesses to identify underage customers, thus helping to prevent the illegal sale of tobacco and alcohol.

The “WE Hold UP IDs” Campaign presents the message to vendors to always ask for id and “Hold UP IDs” in their hands to check the shape, background color, and date of birth. The campaign includes several components to help aid and educate vendors in recognizing minors’ ids, including: a brochure, flyer, poster, counter mat, cash register sticker, window cling, and employee button.

United in Prevention is a regional collaboration in substance abuse prevention lead by the Marshall County Family Resource Network. United in Prevention serves Marshall, Ohio, Brooke, Hancock, Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants, Wood, Wirt, Calhoun, Gilmer, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, and Monongalia counties. For more information on United in Prevention, please visit www.unitedinprevention.com.

For more information on the merchant roundtable, contact Ohio County Coalition Director, Susan Oglinsky at soglinsky@ysswv.com or (304) 641-8655 or Drug Free Communities Coordinator, Jon Lewis at jon.lewis@marshallcountyfrn.com or (304) 845-3300.

Only 8 Percent of Patients Taking Opiates Are Screened for Drug Abuse

Few primary care physicians pay adequate attention to patients taking prescription opioid drugs — despite the potential for abuse, addiction and overdose, according to a study by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University.

The study found lax monitoring even of patients at high risk for opioid misuse, such as those with a history of drug abuse or dependence. The findings are especially concerning considering that prescription drug abuse now ranks second (after marijuana) among illicitly used drugs, with approximately 2.2 million Americans using pain relievers nonmedically for the first time in 2009, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).

"Our study highlights a missed opportunity for identifying and reducing misuse of prescribed opioids in primary care settings," said lead author Joanna Starrels, M.D., M.S. , assistant professor of medicine at Einstein in a news release. "The finding that physicians did not increase precautions for patients at highest risk for opioid misuse should be a call for a standardized approach to monitoring."

The researchers studied administrative and medical records of more than 1,600 primary care patients for an average of two years while they received regular prescription opioids for chronic, non-cancer pain. They looked at whether patients received urine drug testing, were seen regularly in the office, or received multiple early opioid refills.

Only a small minority (8 percent) of patients were found to have undergone any urine drug testing. While such testing was more common in patients at higher risk for opioid misuse, the rate of testing among those high-risk patients was still low (24 percent). Only half of patients were seen regularly in the office, and patients at higher risk of opioid misuse were not seen more frequently than patients at lower risk. Although fewer than one-quarter (23 percent) of all patients received two or more early opioid refills, patients at greater risk for opioid misuse were more likely to receive multiple early refills.

The study’s authors noted that while most primary care physicians are attuned to abuse and addiction problems, they haven’t put enough strategies in place to reduce risks. They recommend that physicians adopt the following risk-reduction strategies: standardize a plan of care for all patients on long-term opioids, which includes urine drug testing; schedule regular face-to-face office visits to evaluate patients' response to opioids and evidence of misuse; and stick to a previously agreed-upon refill schedule.

The paper, "Low Use of Opioid Risk Reduction Strategies in Primary Care Even for High Risk Patients with Chronic Pain," was published in the March 2 edition of the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

Prescription Drug Take-Back Nets 654 in Region

Moundsville, WV – The Marshall County Family Resource Network (FRN) launched a new campaign to promote the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on April 30, 2011. The Safe Storage. Smart Disposal Campaign was launched in 16 counties throughout the region as part of United in Prevention. The campaign focused on safe and responsible ways to dispose of prescription drugs both at home and through take-back events.

The Take-Back Day held on April 30, 2011 collected 654 pounds of prescription drugs throughout the region (only 10 counties reporting). This is a huge step in preventing prescription drug abuse and misuse.

The FRN would like to thank the law enforcement agencies and community partners that volunteered to host the collection sites in Marshall County including the Marshall County Sheriff’s Department, WV State Police Detachment in Moundsville, and the Cameron Volunteer Fire Department.

National Take-Back Days are hosted twice a year. On these days, the community can take unused, unwanted, or expired prescription drugs to a collection site for disposal. The service is free and anonymous. The effort is to get commonly abused prescription drugs out of circulation.

On a national level, the Take-Back event on April 30^th turned in more than 376,593 pounds (188 tons) of medications for safe and proper disposal through 5,361 take-back collection sites across all 50 states. This is 55 percent more than the 242,000 pounds returned nationally last year.

Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to misuse and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high—more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined, according to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Studies show that teens who abuse prescription drugs often obtain them from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, many people do not know how to properly dispose of their unused medicine, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away – both potential safety and health hazards.

The Safe Storage. Smart Disposal Campaign materials can be downloaded online by visiting United in Prevention’s website. If anyone is interested in learning more about how to safely store and dispose of prescription drugs, please visit www.unitedinprevention.com.

United in Prevention is a regional collaboration in substance abuse prevention lead by the FRN. United in Prevention serves Marshall, Ohio, Brooke, Hancock, Wetzel, Tyler, Pleasants, Wood, Wirt, Calhoun, Gilmer, Ritchie, Doddridge, Harrison, Marion, and Monongalia counties.

The Marshall County FRN is a non-profit organization that is helping to make Marshall County a better place to live and work. For more information on the FRN or United in Prevention, the public may contact the Marshall County FRN at (304) 845-3300 or visit www.marshallcountyfrn.com.

Prescription Drugs Worth Millions to Dealers

Prescription drug abuse, now the fastest-growing drug problem in the country, has created a ballooning street market for highly-addictive pain relief, anxiety and depression drugs. Here's a sampling of the street prices for a single tablet of some commonly trafficked drugs, compared to their retail prices:

--Oxycontin: $50 to $80 on the street, vs. $6 when sold legally

--Oxycodone: $12 to $40 on the street, vs. $6 retail

--Hydrocodone: $5 to $20 vs. $1.50

--Percocet: $10 to $15 vs. $6

--Vicodin: $5 to $25 vs. $1.50

Those street prices were gleaned from the latest data put out by federal law enforcement agencies, and the retail prices were from pharmacychecker.com.

Prescription drug abuse is spreading nationwide, but it is particularly rampant in cities like Los Angeles, Miami, Chicago and New York, federal officials say.

For decades, Marijuana was the gateway drug for first-time drug abusers in the United States. But two years ago, prescription drugs won that dubious distinction, according to Rusty Payne, a spokesman for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

"It's a significant shift in trend," Payne said.

In 2009, there were seven million Americans abusing prescription pain and anxiety drugs, up 13% from the prior year, according to the most recent data from DEA. The agency expects 2010 numbers to show another double-digit increase.

And there's big money in it for criminals. The trafficking in prescription drugs is close to becoming a billion-dollar industry, industry experts say.

In Los Angeles, 80mg Oxycontin is the most popular drug on the street with addicts. A single pill can fetch $80 or more, said Sergeant Stephen Opferman of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.

"We are rounding up so much prescription [medication] off the street," Opferman said.

Prescription drugs leak out onto the street in a number of ways.

In some cases, thieves steal legitimate shipments. Or doctors write false prescriptions that dealers fill and then sell the contraband.

Medicare fraud is another route, according to Opferman, who has been battling illegal drug sales for more than 11 years.

Traffickers recruit Medicare beneficiaries who are willing to sell their monthly drug supplies for cash, Opferman said. The illegal activity costs Medicare billions of dollars a year, according to estimates from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

But the most troubling trend among drug abusers in Los Angeles, Opferman said, is the growing number of young teens abuse prescription drugs.

"The kids think these drugs must be safer than heroin because their parents take them," he said. "They hold what they call 'skittles parties' where they try out sleeping pills, anti-anxiety pills and pain medicine."