The American Medicine Chest Challenge

Keokuk County, IA: Keokuk County to Participate in The American Medicine Chest Challenge

by Lynne Zoulek

The KC STAAR Project, the Keokuk County Sheriff’s Department, Sigourney Police Department and the Keota Police Department, will be coordinating the American Medicine Chest Challenge in What Cheer, Keota, and Sigourney.
The event will take place on November 13, 2010 in communities across the country. This initiative will challenge Keokuk County residents to take the Five-Step American Medicine Chest Challenge:
•  Take inventory of your prescription and over-the-counter medicine.
•  Lock your medicine chest.
•  Dispose of your unused, unwanted, and expired medicine in your home or at an American Medicine Chest Challenge Disposal site.
•  Take your medicine(s) exactly as prescribed.
•  Talk to your children about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.
To help combat this growing threat to our nation’s children, Keokuk County is hosting the American Medicine Chest Challenge (AMCC) on November 13, 2010 from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Anyone can drop off their unused, unwanted or expired prescription and over the counter medicines at three secure, convenient locations—the Fire Stations in What Cheer, Sigourney, and Keota. Residents can find other collection sites on www.americanmedicinechestchallenge.com or dispose of their medicine at home, following the guidelines on the site.
The most recent National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows prescription medicines to be the most abused drugs by Americans, other than marijuana and found that 70% of people who abuse prescription pain relievers say they got them from friends or relatives. A recent study on drug use by of teens by the Partnership for a Drug Free America (PDFA) found that one in 9 children are abusing prescription pain relievers to get high.
"This Challenge will raise awareness about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs and reduce the availability of potent drugs that lead kids down a path to addiction,'' explained American Medicine Chest Challenge Chief Executive Officer Angelo M. Valente.
“With the American Medicine Chest Challenge we are calling on residents to see their medicine cabinets through new eyes -- as an access point for potential misuse and abuse of over-the-counter and prescription medicine by young people,” explained Valente.
“Prescription drug abuse can be deadly. We want to head this potential problem off at the source—our homes,” says Lynne Zoulek, Project Director for the KC STAAR Project.  “We need to be smart about what is in our medicine cabinets and monitor and dispose of them accordingly.”
The American Medicine Chest Challenge is gained the national support of PhRMA, The Partnership for a Drug-Free America, and the American College of Emergency Physicians.