"Take Care WV" To Prevent Rx Abuse

Everyone knows drugs are dangerous. But did you know that sharing prescription drugs can be just as dangerous and deadly too? Sharing prescription drugs is also illegal.

Data indicates social access (sharing) is a major contributor to the misuse of prescription drugs. According to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, most prescription drug abusers obtain their drugs from family and friends. In WV, 64% of non-medical users of pain relievers reported getting the most recently used drug from a friend or relative for free, and another 7.6% reported buying them from a friend or relative.

Please don't share prescription drugs. Only take prescriptions as advised by your doctor.

The WV Partnership to Promote Community Well-Being and the WV Prevention Resource Center are launching Take Care WV – a social marketing campaign to spread the word that sharing prescription drugs is illegal, and it can be just as dangerous and deadly as illicit drugs.

How can you help support this campaign and reduce the misuse of prescription drugs in our state?

1. Please visit www.takecarewv.org to view/listen to campaign messages, read facts and statistics about RX drug misuse/abuse, and learn about proper RX storage and disposal.

2. Participate in your county’s discussions about Rx abuse. Community Forums/Discussions on Rx abuse are being scheduled across the state this summer. Dates will soon be posted on the WV Prevention Training & Events Calendar available at www.PrevNET.org. Contact information for your County Prevention Partnership is available at PrevNet as well as www.takecarewv.org.

3. Encourage your local coalitions/media/businesses/schools/civic groups to air/print the PSAs as much as possible. All the PSAs can be downloaded at www.takecarewv.org.

Some specific ideas for distributing the campaign messages include:

• Email/talk to all your professional and personal contacts about this campaign. Feel free to forward this message as is, but also consider adding your own personal touch.
• Print some of the PSAs as flyers and distribute/post them in your community. Ask your doctor, dentist, child care provider, church, employer, etc. to post flyers in their waiting areas, exam rooms, lunch rooms or bathrooms.
• Facebook/Twitter the following message: Take Care WV: Please don’t share prescription drugs. Learn more at www.takecarewv.org
• Include the print PSAs in newsletters, church bulletins, meeting packets, mailings, etc.
• Talk to your local pharmacist about the campaign. Ask if they’ll post some of the flyers, and tell them later this summer we plan to have RX bags (with the campaign logo/message) for all WV pharmacies to use for a limited time. We’re working on corporate permission for the chains right now.
  
  Thanks in advance for your support of Take Care WV. Please feel free to contact Michelle Burnside at (304) 552-7982 if you have any questions/comments/ideas.