Cefuroxime axetil. Pravastatin. Diclofenac sodium. Topomax. Cymbalta. Strattera.
The words may be hard for local school students to spell.
Unfortunately, say local law enforcement officials, they’re not that hard to swallow.
Those tongue-twisters are the brand names or generic equivalents of some of the prescription drugs the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Department has recovered in the local school district this year.
Cefuroxime axetil is an antibiotic. Pravastatin is a cholesterol medication. Diclofenac sodium is an anti-inflammatory drug. Cymbalta treats depression. Strattera is a treatment for ADHD.
Those drugs and the others recovered are evidence of a “silent epidemic” threatening the community’s youth, Sheriff Stan Hudson said Wednesday.
While U.S. teenagers’ use of marijuana is declining, their abuse of prescription drugs is holding steady or in some cases increasing, he said.
The sheriff cited a report released by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) suggesting that on any given day, 2,500 children between the ages of 12 and 17 will abuse a prescription painkiller for the first time.
One in five teens has abused prescription pain medication, the sheriff said.
But other medications are also being abused, he noted.
“A lot of the medicines, students just think it’s going to have an effect,” Hudson said.
“They don’t really know what they’re taking; it’s a status type thing. They don’t realize it could cause them some physical harm in the future.”
Many children are lured into using prescription drugs because they perceive them to be safer than so-called “street drugs,” he added.
About a third of teens believe there’s “nothing wrong” with using other people’s prescriptions, he said, citing the same ONDCP data.
A third also said they thought prescription painkillers had fewer side effects than street drugs.
The teens also told researchers that prescription drugs were easy to get; 62 percent said they could get powerful painkillers at home, and 52 percent said the drugs were “available everywhere.”
“People just aren’t aware that they need to be careful, and so they leave prescriptions in the medicine cabinet, and they don’t think anything about it,” Hudson said.
In the past two school years, four local students have been charged with trafficking in prescription drugs, said Deputy Brock Thomas, the county’s school resource officer.
Last year, two middle school students were charged. This year, charges were filed against a high school student and a student at the Butler Area Youth Development Center.
Parents and guardians can help fight the problem.
The sheriff’s department and the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force have begun a campaign to safely dispose of unused medications.
Unused or leftover medication should not be poured down a sink or drain, because of environmental concerns.
Medications should also never be put in the trash where someone could retrieve them, said the sheriff.
Citizens can bring their unused medications to the sheriff’s office in the courthouse, where they can deposit them in a secure container for proper disposal.
Citizens who are unable to drive can contact the office at (270) 365-2088 and make arrangements to have their medications picked up by the sheriff or a deputy.
Hudson also asked parents to “let your teen know where you stand.
“When you talk about drugs and alcohol, include prescription drugs in the conversation. Set clear rules for teens about all drug use, including not sharing medicine and always following the medical provider’s advice and dosages.”
Parents should safeguard all drugs at home by monitoring quantities and controlling access.
Others whose homes children visit should keep prescription medications out of childrens’ reach, rather than in the medicine cabinet, he said.
The sheriff’s office also continues to offer free at-home drug test kits to parents concerned that their children may be using drugs.
A shipment of between 30 and 40 kits is expected to arrive next week, he said.
Hudson cautioned that the test kits may return false positive results.
If a test returns positive, the sheriff recommended parents contact their family physician or the Caldwell County Hospital.
The hospital is partnering with the sheriff’s department to provide secondary testing at a cost of $25.
The test may also be billable to insurance.
“We do not expect or require any information as to the results of the test,” Hudson said. “We are only offering the test to families as a tool to help parents face the challenges of raising children in today’s society.
“We want to partner with parents to help deter children from using drugs, and if we are unable to prevent the drug use, we want to stop the drug problem as early in the childrens’ lives as possible.”
