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raising awareness for prescription drug misuse in teens and adults and the importance of naloxone kits

spreading awareness for opioid misuse, the safe storage of medication, and life-saving naloxone kits.

by angelica bottaro

sep 5 2024
read time 7 minute read
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aside from keeping things locked away or out of reach of youth, it’s also essential to have discussions about medications and drugs and their consequences early on in life. getty images
on august 30, rexall, in partnership with drug free kids canada, the health products steward association, and innovative medicines canada, hosted several community events across the country to raise awareness for rexall’s medication cabinet clean out program.
the program was developed to increase the understanding of how easy access to prescription drugs contributes to youth prescription drug use. the importance of the events stemmed from new data highlighting an increase in the use of prescription pharmaceuticals as recreational drugs.
rexall and partners also aimed to spread awareness about naloxone kits, their importance, and why everyone should have one as part of their first aid kits in their homes.

the increased use of pharmaceuticals as recreational drugs among canadian youth

according to data from the ontario student drug use and health survey conducted by the centre for addiction and mental health (camh), youth are now more inclined than ever to reach into medicine cabinets to experiment with drugs.
the drugs in question range from cough and cold medication that can be purchased over the counter to opioids that can only be acquired through a prescription. the rates of opioid use, especially, have increased almost two-fold, from 12.7 per cent in 2021 to 21.8 per cent in 2023. in 2019, the number of youth that used these drugs was even lower at 11 per cent, showing a year-over-year increase since 2019.

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ricky tiwana, the vice president of national pharmacy operations for rexall, is well-versed in prescription drug misuse in the country and the importance of spreading awareness of what these increases can mean for canadian youth.
“we’re seeing the number of opioid-related deaths increasing every single day, and there’s been several cases across canada where there’s been communities just devastated, several dozen people dying within a short number of days related to opioid overdoses,” he said.
he also notes that children and youth who have easy access to these drugs and wish to experiment with them are not always sure of what they’re taking and what the ramifications of that can be.
“when you look at drugs like fentanyl and things of that nature, kids a lot of times don’t know what they’re actually taking. so, a lot of times, it is accidental overdoses,” he said.
the drugs in question are often used to treat significant chronic pain, with the most notable being percocet, percodan, tylenol #3, demerol, dilaudid, oxyneo, and codeine.

teaching parents how to safely store and dispose of medication

parents of children are often well aware of where other harmful substances in the house are, such as in alcohol cabinets. in many cases, the substances are locked away so that youth cannot get their hands on them in an attempt to experiment.

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however, many parents are not as aware of the risks or opportunities that youth may take when it comes to prescription drugs. that’s why, in many cases, a medicine cabinet in a home is found in a bathroom or kitchen, accessible to anyone who lives or visits.
chantel vallerand, executive director of drug free kids canada and mother of her own teenager, aims to work with parents of teenagers to educate them on the risks that these drugs hold when they get into the wrong hands.
she wants people to know that, even if they don’t believe their kid would ever steal prescription medication, it’s not as uncommon as many think.
“often what we run into is saying, ‘well, but my kid is not the problem. my kid is not using them,’” she said. “but the latest study, as i was mentioning from cambridge, is showing that one out of five did use in the past 12 months. so, if your kid has more than four friends, one of them is bound to have tried, right?”
the first step in ensuring that teens and youth don’t have access to these medications is understanding the safe storage and disposal of drugs that could cause harm if they’re taken by the wrong person.
“the best place is under lock, right?” said vallerand, later continuing, “so, if you are of legal agent and are using these substances, put them under lock so you’re sure that they’re out of reach.”

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it’s not just about keeping the drugs safe from a person’s own family. it’s also about others that may be entering the home. as vallerand puts it, you never know who’s going to be coming into your home and what might happen if those types of drugs are readily accessible.
it’s also best to keep them in a place in the home that isn’t easy for everyone to access in private, which is why the bathroom is often the last place you would want to store your medicines.
according to tiwana, storing drugs in the bathroom can be even more harmful because of the temperature changes.
“you (also) want to make sure that they’re stored in an environment where the temperature is stable, at room temperature, right?” he said. “because as you can imagine … there’s a lot of moisture (in the bathroom), and the temperature tends to fluctuate, which isn’t good for the medication.”
he goes on to say that, in the bathroom’s changing environment, the potency of the drug can be impacted. in some cases, the potency may lessen, but in others, it may increase, causing a person to take more of a specific drug than they should be at any given time without even realizing it.
safe disposal of drugs is also an essential part of rexall’s and its partner’s initiative because it keeps drugs out of the environment. simply tossing old medications in the trash or flushing them down the toilet is not the way to do it.

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according to tiwana, the best way to ensure that the drugs in your cabinet are safe to use is to check them once per year, which is information provided in the cabinet clean out program tiwana and others are trying to spread awareness about. if anything is expired or if you no longer need a specific medication, you can bring it back to the pharmacy, where they will dispose of it properly.
“there’s no cost to the patient. it’s a service available year-round throughout all rexall pharmacies in canada,” he said. “it’s very important that we don’t let these medications end up in our landfill sites and our sewage systems because we do not want to be drinking that.”
aside from keeping things locked away or out of reach of youth, it’s also essential to have discussions about medications and drugs and their consequences early on in life.
“have those conversations often and normalize that conversation, not to alarm anybody as i said, but just so that they’re informed of the risk,” said vallerand.

spreading the word about naloxone and why it’s an integral part of your “first aid kit”

when people think of naloxone, their minds often travel to heavy drug users. however, these life-saving kits are an essential part of everyone’s first aid in their home, especially with the rates of accidental opioid overdoses rising in youth who take it recreationally and from people they know who have a prescription.

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the medication is an opioid antagonist, which can help reverse or reduce the effects of an opioid overdose, essentially acting as a first response to an overdose that could end up saving someone’s life while the paramedics are on their way.
it comes in two forms: nasal spray and injections, and when administered at the first sign of opioid overdose, it can start working in as little as two minutes.
both tiwana and vallerand want to open the conversation with parents and others about naloxone because there is often a stigma surrounding its use when, in reality, it can be an integral part of overall safety in one’s home, especially when opioids are sitting in the cabinets.
“you never know when you’re going to have to administer that to somebody and there’s a lot of people actually that are now carrying around naloxone kits with them at all times,” said tiwana.
according to vallerand, having it and not needing it is always better because “you never know.”
it’s also crucial to note that if naloxone is administered and the event occurring wasn’t due to opioids, no harm is done. the drug does not affect a person beyond reducing an opioid overdose, meaning it does nothing for a person who hasn’t ingested opioids and potentially saves the life of someone who has.

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“when someone is overdosing, every minute is critical. you want to be able to make the right decision,” said tiwana. “at times, it can be difficult to tell, so if you’re unsure, you’re better off administering the kit than not administering it.”
the kits are also highly accessible to those who wish to add them to their overall safety kits at home, which is highly suggested for those with teenagers or those who have opioid prescriptions.
in many provinces, the kits are free of charge at local pharmacies, such as all rexall locations. in provinces without pharmacy programs, the kits are still free, but people may have to go to local police or advocacy groups to obtain them, which is more than worth it when it comes to saving a life.

“it’s a safety measure, just like any other safety measures that you would have in place,” said vallerand. “if anything is going to happen, you’re ready to intervene.”

angelica bottaro
angelica bottaro

angelica bottaro is the lead editor at healthing.ca, and has been content writing for over a decade, specializing in all things health. her goal as a health journalist is to bring awareness and information to people that they can use as an additional tool toward their own optimal health.

read more about the author

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