ONDCP, CADCA Focus on Prescription Drug Abuse

Sunday's the big game! And whether you're a football fan or a casual bystander, you'll likely be caught up in Super Bowl hype--or at least Super Bowl advertising hype. Lifestyle writers, bloggers and nightly newscasts already are telling us about the multiplicity of ads that will launch during the the game--including several belonging to a new campaign from the White House Office on National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) focusing on prescription drug abuse.

More young people age 12-17 abuse prescription drugs than any illicit drug except marijuana—more than cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine combined, according to an ONDCP a white paper, Prescription for Danger A Report on the Troubling Trend of Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drug Abuse Among the Nation’s Teens.

The 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reports that more than 2.1 million teens age 12 to 17 reported abusing prescription drugs in 2006. Among 12- and 13-year olds, prescription drugs are their drug of choice. These are most alarming statistics.

CADCA, working with the ONDCP National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign, is set to release a new Strategizer on prescription drug abuse at its National Leadership Forum XVIII in Washington, DC, in February. CADCA and its partner the Consumer Healthcare Products Association also will present a workshop on the dangers of over-the-counter and prescription drug abuse by teens.

We hope you're planning to join us at the Forum and that you'll use CADCA's new and existing resources to inform the prevention conversation with your community coalition. That's why we're here.