J.B. VAN HOLLEN
ATTORNEY GENERAL

Attorney General Van Hollen Recognizes Threats Posed By Unsecured Controlled Substances

"Sixty (60) percent of our teenagers, these are high school students, report they have access to controlled substances in and around their homes. None of us would drop our kids off at a "drug house" yet many of us do not safeguard our own prescription drugs."

Local law enforcement officials know. Local school officials know. Parents need to know…safeguarding prescription drugs may save your child's life or that of another teen and will certainly make your schools safer.

The facts are staggering. Sixty percent of our teenagers, these are our high school students, report they have access to controlled substances in and around their homes. Two in ten, or twenty percent, have abused them to get high. While the statistics are staggering, the very real personal toll is life changing - from promise and hope to addiction or death. All the while, disturbing our classrooms and schools with trafficking of all forms in your prescription drugs… yes, yours.

Recently, in my law enforcement roundtables and conversations with local law enforcement and school administrators I was disturbed to learn about the evolving drug problem among our teenagers and in our schools. Marijuana still serves as an entry drug for many teenagers. Cocaine, ecstasy and the rising use of heroin have, appropriately, drawn attention of law enforcement at all levels. What's not new, but what is increasing at alarming levels all over the state is the use and trafficking of legally dispensed controlled substances coming out of our homes, into our schools, and destructively into the lives of our children.

Schools and classrooms are upset with the trade and sale of your drugs. These aren't brought up in the Mexican Drug Cartels and distributed by Criminal Illegal Aliens and Gangs…they come home in your amber plastic prescription bottles and go out in your child's pocket or backpack. They abuse, their friends abuse, and a deadly criminal enterprise is borne.

To combat this trend, the Department of Justice has sponsored, along with the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association, a public education program designed to encourage parents and family members to secure their prescriptions. Unlike illegal drugs, while controlled, these drugs are lawfully dispensed. Indeed, countless Americans benefit from the proper use of prescription drugs under the supervision of doctors.

But, when these unsecured prescription medications are made available to those other than for whom the prescription is written (itself a violation of the controlled substances act) the genie is out of the bottle. Addiction, hospitalization, and too often, overdose death follows.

While my staff and department officials continue to work with other state agencies and local law enforcement, including interested citizen groups, to find safe, effective, legal ways that are environmentally conscious to dispose of these controlled prescription drugs you can do one simple thing to stop this growing problem among teens and in our schools… secure your prescription medications today.

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