Submitted Resolutions

Floor Speech

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Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I am pleased to submit a resolution designating the month of October, 2009 as the National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. The abuse of prescription drugs and cold medicine is currently the fastest growing drug abuse trend in the country. According to the most recent National Survey of Drug Use and Health, NSDUH, nearly 7 million people have admitted to using controlled substances without a doctor's prescription. People between the ages of 12 and 25 are the most common group to abuse these drugs. However, more and more people are dying because of this abuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that the unintentional deaths involving prescription narcotics increased 117 percent from the years 2001 to 2005.

Abuse of over-the-counter, OTC, cough and cold medicines is also alarming. While these common cold medicines are safe and effective if used properly, the abuse of these medicines can also be destructive. According to a study conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, nearly one in ten young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have intentionally abused cough medicine to get high off its main ingredient Dextromethorphan. These are statistics that can no longer be ignored.

Millions of Americans use these medicines every year to treat a variety of symptoms due to injury, depression, insomnia, and the effects of the common cold. Many legitimate users of these drugs often do not use as much medication as the prescription contains. As a result, these drugs remain in the family medicine cabinet for months or years because people forget about them or do not know how to properly dispose of them. However, many of these drugs, when not properly used or administered, are just as addictive and deadly as street drugs like methamphetamine or cocaine.

According to the NSDUH, more than half of the people who abuse these drugs reported that they obtained OTC and prescription drugs from a friend or relative or from the family medicine cabinet. As a result, groups like the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America have been reaching out to communities throughout the nation to raise awareness of this growing drug abuse trend and encourage communities to tackle the problem head on. Many community anti-drug coalitions, public health officials, and law enforcement officials have been holding town halls, organizing community ``clean out your medicine cabinet'' events, and holding many other events to raise awareness of this growing abuse in an effort to reverse this trend.

We can stop the growing trend of medicine abuse in its tracks, but it will require all sectors of the community to join together to make it happen. The National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month Resolution promotes the message that over-the-counter and prescription medicines must be taken as directed, and when used recreationally or in large doses they can have serious and deadly consequences. This resolution will help remind parents that access to drugs that are abused doesn't just happen in alleys and on the streets, but can often occur right in the home. I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.

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