NCJ Number
234164
Date Published
April 2011
Length
11 pages
Annotation
This report from the Executive Office of the President of the United States presents a plan of action for dealing with the Nation's growing prescription drug abuse crisis.
Abstract
This report presents an overview of the Obama Administrations' response to the prescription drug abuse crisis in the United States. The plan expands upon the Administration's National Drug Control Strategy and includes four major focus areas for reducing prescription drug abuse. The first area is in education - raising awareness of the dangers of prescription drug abuse through education of parents, youth, patients, and healthcare providers. The second area is improving tracking and monitoring at the State level to detect and prevent the diversion and abuse of prescription drugs at the retail level. The third focus area is the proper disposal of medications - communities and individuals need to have the resources available to them for the proper and safe disposal of unnecessary prescription drugs. The fourth focus area is enforcement - law enforcement agencies need to have the support and the resources to expand their efforts to shut down "pill mills" and stop "doctor shoppers" who contribute to prescription drug trafficking. These four focus areas are discussed in detail and a list of actions is included in each section.