There is a Rise in Prescription Drug Theft during Open Houses

The following is a guest post from ADAPT Member and Rutgers University student Lisa Joseph.

Prescription drug abuse is a growing issue in the United States. How are these medications making it onto the streets of our communities? There is a new trend occurring where people addicted to prescription drugs and/or potential drug dealers are using real estate open house events to steal prescription drugs from medicine cabinets. When preparing for an open house, families are worried about making sure everything is clean and presentable. Few people think about what the medications in their medicine cabinet and the possibility of people stealing them. This is exactly what some people addicted to prescription drugs and potential drug dealers are counting on. They seek for open houses advertised in the newspapers, online, etc. Normally, they will travel in pairs. While one distracts the real estate agent, the other goes to the medicine cabinets and looks for these medications.

Unfortunately, when these medications are easily accessible, in a sense, you become the enabler. What can you do to prevent people from stealing your medications? First, lock up all of the prescription drugs within your home. This is not only to keep visitors away from your medications, but it is also for the safety of your own children and family members that live in your household. Keeping medications locked away where your children cannot reach them is the first step to protecting them from potential substance abuse. In addition, we recommend that you keep a log of what medications you have and the quantity for each one. The log can be a weekly or monthly log, whichever is best for you. Lastly, learn about ways to properly dispose of your medication.

Instead of just throwing them in the trash or flushing them down the toilet, mix the remaining pills with cat litter or used coffee grinds and then dispose of them. If your local police precinct has a permanent prescription drop box, you may also take all of your old or unused medication there. We need to be aware and cautious so that we help keep our families safe and take preliminary steps to prevent our children from any potential substance use. For more information on this topic and on prescription drug abuse, check out these links.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/02/thieves-target-open-houses-for-prescription-drugs/

http://www.calstate.edu/aod/documents/LockItUpProject-PrescriptionDrugs.pdf

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