By Joan Crigger
January 31, 2011

The Women Mayors Group met during the 79th Winter Meeting and heard experts on prescription drug abuse discuss ways to address the issue in their communities. Hallandale Beach (FL) Mayor Joy Cooper, Chair of the Women Mayors Group, opened the meeting and shared her concerns about prescription drug abuse in Florida and, especially, in her city. Cooper indicated that Florida has archaic laws regarding distribution of prescription drugs and said that there are huge numbers of "pill mills" there that draw people from all over the country.

Cooper introduced two speakers to address this issue: Regina LaBelle, Senior Policy Advisor to the Director of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) at the White House, and Marcia Lee Taylor, Vice President for Government Affairs at the Partnership at Drugfree.org.

LaBelle began her remarks indicating that prescription drug abuse is one of three priorities for the Director of ONDCP and said that over 26,000 people die from prescription drug abuse each year. She also agreed with Cooper that it was a particular problem in Florida, as well as in Georgia and Kentucky. According to LaBelle, using local zoning ordinances is probably the easiest way to address the problem in those states.

LaBelle said that one of the best things that mayors can do is to make sure that parents know it is a problem, especially for teenagers. She also cited statistics that indicate it is a problem for returning veterans who acknowledged in a survey that one in nine had abused drugs in the last month.

Reasons for the increase in abuse are:

• Increased usage of painkillers over the past few years;

• More painkillers in circulation and easy availability; and

• Misperception that prescription drugs are safer because a doctor prescribes them.

  Last May, President Obama announced a National Drug Control Strategy that included the following recommendations:

• Education of parents, prescribers and patients;

• Monitoring, already being done in 34 states and expected in Florida next year;

• Proper disposal, either by mixing with cat litter or take-back programs; and

• Enforcement, through a crackdown on pill mills.

Taylor then opened her remarks by saying that the Partnership, although in operation for over 20 years, had evolved over the past five years from mostly advertising campaigns to working with parents and caring adults of children of all ages, especially teens to 30s.

Taylor said prescription drug abuse is the Partnership's number one focus by raising awareness, education about prescription drug abuse, and community education programs, most of which are user friendly and free.

Surveys indicate that 15 percent of children surveyed abused prescription drugs in the past year and nine percent abused drugs in the past month. Only alcohol abuse is higher. Motivations for young people to use prescription drugs are:

• Partying;

• Using them to manipulate their lives, often by using ADHD-type medication to help pass tests at school, valium to wind down on Fridays, and another drug to get high on Saturdays; and

• Usage also is high for young people in the workplace, often to complete huge projects on time. Taylor said the number one source of prescription drugs is the medicine cabinet, either their own or that of a friend.

The number one goal for the Partnership is education of parents. Taylor said that mayors who want to develop programs in their own communities could contact her at MarciaLee_Taylor@drugfree.org for information.

Discussion followed with questions from Arlington Heights (IL) Mayor Arlene Mulder, Edison (NJ) Mayor Antonia Ricigliano and Sunnyvale (CA) Mayor Melinda Hamilton.

The meeting adjourned with Cooper reminding mayors that there is an election for a new chair and vice chair in June at the Annual Conference in Baltimore.