Do you safeguard your prescription drugs?
Do you know what medicines are in your house? When's the last time you worried about the drugs in your medicine cabinet?
Probably most of us never have. Daily Herald staff writer Jamie Sotonoff's riveting account of Mike Loverde, a recovering prescription medicine addict formerly of Des Plaines, should prompt us all to change that.
Loverde talked in detail about scheming to persuade doctors to give him a shot of Demerol and of going from open houses to yard sales where he would rummage through cabinets and drawers stealing prescription drugs. He even swiped a bottle of Vicodin from a bedroom that held a wheelchair and crutches.
Addiction is an incredibly powerful illness. Loverde's experience reminds us it's time to worry about the painkillers and other drugs in all our homes. While Sotonoff's report featured physicians and others saying it's much more difficult to scam drugs from them these days, we also know prescription and over-the-counter drug abuse is a growing problem. The National Institute on Drug Abuse says one in five of us have taken prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons. Even more concerning, one in five high school students has taken these drugs without a doctor's approval, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We know from our previous reporting on suburban drug problems that some cold medicines also are hot targets for abuse among children and teens.
Even if you don't have children, who knows who might go rummaging at the next neighborhood get-together? It's time to think a moment about that.
And if addiction to prescription drugs wasn't dangerous enough in itself, it can also be a gateway to abuse of other drugs. In Loverde's case, prescription pills led him to abuse heroin, a drug we know too well is one of the most addictive.
Nothing is foolproof, but there are steps all of us can take to protect against someone being tempted to abuse the drugs in our homes.
Experts suggest we keep drugs in safe places only we can access. It just might be wise to keep drugs locked up. We all should inventory all medications. Unless the label says otherwise, we should return used or expired drugs to a pharmacist -- toxic drugs should not be dumped in the trash or our water stream. We also should remove personal information from the empty bottles before disposing of them.
We should ask doctors and pharmacists about addiction risk and side effects of any medicines prescribed, experts say. We should never take someone else's prescription drug. And we should keep track of refills. If we need to refill a medication faster than indicated, that might be the first sign we're developing a problem.
Drugs and addiction are enough of a scourge in our communities. Let's all commit to following these simple steps to protect ourselves and our loved ones.