Fulton County Sheriff Bobby Hopper is offering free drug test kits to parents to help them learn if their children need help because of drugs.
“We do not expect any information from you or information about your child,” he stressed.
The Sheriff’s Office is partnering with the Pennyrile Narcotics Task Force to offer the test.
“We want to stop the drug problem as early in children’s lives as possible,” Hopper said.
“Hopefully, this test will let your child know that you care enough to check on them and that your are watching out for them,” he said.
Hopper said drug test kits may give a false positive result. “Therefore, it is recommended if you have a positive result, you should contact your family physician for a more conclusive drug screen,” Hopper said.
Also, he pointed out that while U.S. teenage use of marijuana is declining their use of pescription drugs is holding steady or in some cases increasing. According to the National Drug Control Policy, everyday 2,500 kids aged 12- 17 abuse a prescription painkiller for the first time and more people are getting addicted to prescription drugs.
He said that one in five teens has abused prescription pain medication. Drug treatment admissions for prescription painkillers increased more than 300 percent from 1995 to 2005.
“I am asking parents to help bring these troubling statistics down,” Hopper said. “Many kids are lured into using prescription drugs because they perceive them to be safer than so-called street drugs.” He said statistics show:
• About a third of teens believe there’s “nothing wrong” with using other people’s prescriptions.
• A third of teens said they think prescription painkillers have fewer side effects than street drugs.
• Teens also told researchers that prescriptioin drugs were easy to get.
• 62 percent of those teens said they could get powerful painkillers at home and 52 percent said they were “available anywhere.
“In many cases, the drug dealer is us,” Hopper said.
“People just aren’t aware that they need to be careful, and so they leave prescriptions in the medicine cabinet, and they don’t think anything about it,” Hopper said.
Because of this silent epidemic, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office and the Pennyrile Narcotics Drug Task Force have started a campaign to safely dispose of medicines.
Unused medications should not be poured down a sink or drain because of environmental reasons and should never be thrown in the trash, where someone could retrieve them, Hopper said.
Instead, he urges residents to bring unused medicines to the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office where they may deposit them in a secure container for proper disposal.
If a citizen is unable to drive, they may contact the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office (270-236-2545).
Hopper also asks parents to let their teens know where they stand. “When you talk about drugs and alcohol include prescription drugs in the conversation,” he said.
“Set clear rules for teens about all drug use, including not sharing medicine and always following the medical provider’s advice and dosages.
“Safeguard all drugs at home by monitoring quantities and controlling access. Also, parents and family members whose homes teens visit should keep prescription medications out of teens’ reach, rather than in the medicine cabinet,” he said.
