This past week I was invited into New York City to participate in a launch of an awareness campaign called Not In My House.  Not In My House goal is to educate parents, friends, family and anyone else that is willing to see that prescription drug abuse is a rising epidemic amongst tweens and teens.  They have partnered with Partnership for a Drug-Free America and Abott.

But before I get into the statistics and prevention methods I wanted to share with you one father's story about losing his 17 year old son named Harrison.  I got to sit down and speak with Gary Neal and his daughter Jordan.  Their story shook me to the core.

Gary Neal is a father.  He is a father that was and is active in his children's lives.  His family worshiped at his local church, they went on family vacations, and they spent time fishing and hunting; as a family. 

Harrison was a top honors student, he participated in school sports, he was popular, and was considered someone that was always looking for ways to make you laugh.

In 2006, the day before Thanksgiving, Harrison's mother found him dead on his bedroom floor from what later identified as an overdose of prescription drugs taken with over-the-counter medication.  Harrison had been battling a simple cold; he took some cold medicine with someone else's prescription drugs.  He fell asleep and never woke up.

The story itself is tragic.  The Neil family was active in Harrison's life.  They were not enablers, they did not turn the other cheek.  But what affected me the most was hearing Gary Neil try to describe the guilt he feels for not being able to protect his son from something he never considered a risk.

I am a mother of two young boys, so the conversations about drugs have not been initiated because they are too young to understand.  But I have tween and teen nephews and the thought of them being faced with this rising problem is enough to want to lock them up with my own kids to protect them.

We all know that is unrealalitsc.  Educated yourself.  Gather knowledge and tools to help you understand that:

     ***  1 in 5 teens have abused prescription drugs.
***  12 to 17 year olds abuse prescription drugs more than they abuse ecstasy, crack/cocaine, heroin, and methamphetamine combined
***  60% of teens who have abused prescription painkillers did so before age 15
***  There are as many new abusers age 12 to 17 of prescription drugs as there are of marijuana

Why are teenagers turning to prescription drugs rather the route of the typical street drugs?

• They don't see a risk.  They think that taking a pill prescribed by a doctor has not danger.
• 69% of kids think that prescription drugs are safer than using street drugs.
  
  

What can you do as a parent?  Outside of making sure you have an open communication with your children is to follow the Not In My House 3 steps:

• Step 1: Monitor- Keep track of the prescription medications you have in your house.
• Step 2: Secure- Lock them up in a cabinet, even your over-the-counter medications.
• Step 3: Dispose- Throw away any prescription drugs that are expired or unused.  I know I have kept pain medication I never finished for the "what if" possibility I may need it.  Throw it out.  There is too much at stake.

I remember growing up learning from my mother the dangers of street drugs.  Fast forward 20 years and kids today have the option to concoct lethal cocktails of prescription medications mixed with alcohol or over-the-counter drugs.  And they see no risk in doing it.

I hope that some of you made it to the end of this post.  I really do, this campaign really hit home for me.  There are dangers everywhere in the world, but this is something we can help prevent.  Talk to your kids about the dangers of popping pills that are not meant for them, lock up the scripts you have at home.  Go to the Not In My House website to educate yourself about this epidemic.  Because the pain and loss I saw in Gary Neil's eyes is something I never would want any of my readers to face.