American Medicine Chest

The American Medicine Chest Challenge is a public health campaign that was created to prevent the abuse of prescription and over the counter medicine by raising awareness of the American Medicine Chest Challenge 5-Step Challenge.

Prescription drug abuse is a problem in our country. The 2007National Study of Drug Use and Health found that 70% of people who abuse prescription pain relievers indicated they got them from friends or relatives, and the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) reports  that upwards of 9 million people use prescription medication for non-medical uses. This coupled with the fact that 11.1% of young people(12 to 17 years-old) in the United States have used prescription drugs non-medically in their lifetime was the impetus for the American Medicine Chest Challenge. According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, past-year initiation of non-medical prescription drug use has surpassed the rate for marijuana. Moreover, between 1997 and 2007, treatment admissions for prescription painkillers increased more than 400 percent. The latest data from the Monitoring the Future study shows that seven out of the top ten drugs used by teens are prescription drugs. And between 2004 and 2008, the number of visits to hospital emergency departments involving the non-medical use of narcotic painkillers increased 111 percent. Please visit the following website to access drop off locations (http://www.americanmedicinechest.com/locations/...)