STATE PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE PROGRAM LAUNCHED
Governor Robert Bentley, along with Alabama District Attorneys and other state leaders were recently in Montgomery to launch a new prescription drug abuse prevention program geared towards increased education and public awareness of the dangers of prescription pain medication abuse. District Attorney Mike O’Dell was one of the District Attorneys who attended the gathering.
“This campaign was the brainchild of Governor Bentley,” O’Dell pointed out, “and he asked the Alabama District Attorneys, the Office of Prosecution Services, and the Alabama Drug Abuse Task Force to partner with other state agencies to develop a comprehensive prescription drug abuse and diversion prevention and education program. Clearly, prescription pain medication, like Hydrocodone and OxyCodone, as well as ADHD medications are the most abused prescription drugs in Alabama. Our goal is to specifically target this area of drug abuse through this campaign.”
The campaign is officially known as the Zero Addiction Prescription Drug Awareness Campaign and is being funded by a federal grant awarded through the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs. The grant money has been, will continue to be, used in the development and implementation of the program. It will provide for a statewide media campaign involving radio and television spots which will begin airing over the next two weeks. A website, ZeroAddiction.org, has also been launched in conjunction with the campaign which lists treatment facilities and options in each Alabama county.
“The diversion and abuse of opioids and ADHD medication has led to skyrocketing levels of addiction across the state,” O’Dell said. “In addition, it has given birth to the increase of heroin and synthetic drug overdoses that are crippling our communities and destroying lives. We have seen a few heroin cases in our circuit in recent months, but synthetic drug cases such as Spice have been at near epidemic levels for us, while prescription drug abuse cases continue to rise in, and around, our school communities. For the most part, these drugs have replaced methamphetamine use in our younger addicts.”
“I believe the massive weight and cost of addiction and drug crime is potentially the greatest threat facing our state. Methamphetamine, cocaine, and marijuana continue to be active battlegrounds in Dekalb and Cherokee counties, and we do not intend to step back from our aggressive efforts to fight these scourges, but we all realize that as we are confronted with new challenges they must be addressed no less aggressively. Prescription drug abuse represents just such a challenge, and we are glad that the Governor and other state agencies are now willing to address a problem that north Alabama DAs have been responding to for several years.”
O’Dell pointed out that his office has been engaged in a “local” public awareness campaign against prescription drug abuse since 2012. “Our campaign started with the assistance of the Dekalb County Commission. We came up with a “moving billboard” wherein we were allowed to attach a sign to the rear of some of the public transportation buses that consisted of a ‘lollipop’ made up of assorted prescription pills. The message read,
“Some teenagers are popping pills as if they were candy.”
HELP PREVENT PRESCRIPTION ADDICTION
It Begins at Home.”
By using public buses, that message has been, and still is, being delivered all over the county every day. In addition, O’Dell introduced billboards in both counties with the same message in the Spring of 2013. Then, in the Fall of 2014, a new billboard went up which depicted an assortment of prescription pills and with the following message,
IT IS NOT CANDY
“Join us in protecting our children by securing your prescription medications.”
ILLEGAL PRESCRIPTION DRUG USE CAN BE DEADLY
“Our state and local governments are exhausting too many precious resources dealing directly and indirectly with the consequences of addiction and the crime associated with it,” O’Dell remarked. Education and prevention has to be our goal, especially in light of prison overcrowding. The problem for district attorneys across the state has been the continuing budget cuts that have restricted us from implementing comprehensive programs like our highly successful Zerometh campaign several years ago which was directly responsible for the incredible reduction of methamphetamine use among our youth. Local radio stations have been very gracious to run a number of our messages as free “public safety announcements” and we have managed to keep about a half dozen billboards up in both counties. My hope is that these statewide ZeroAddiction spots will help get the message out to a much wider audience. It is our desire for families to have honest and candid conversations about prescription drug abuse, and addiction in all its forms. The new website provides information about both addiction and where to get help. The mobile friendly web site enables anyone needing help to simply click on a link to a county and obtain every treatment option in that area. There is also a tip line to report illegal drug activity and drug crime. The 411-tip line is web based and anonymous.”
”Drug abuse essentially touches us all in some way…it is a discussion we absolutely need to have. I am optimistic that this state partnership will be successful in addressing this serious problem.”