In Support of President Obama's 2012 Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Plan
Adopted at the 80th Annual Meeting in 2012
WHEREAS, the White House office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) released a comprehensive action plan to combat the prescription drug abuse epidemic with a national framework for supporting education for patients and health care providers, expanding state-based prescription drug monitoring programs, recommending more convenient and environmentally responsible disposal methods, and reducing the prevalence of pill mills and doctor shopping through enforcement efforts; and
WHEREAS, substantial progress has been made in combating prescription drug abuse as health care professionals, law enforcement officials, and community anti-drug coalitions receive education and training coordinated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), and/or ONDCP; and
WHEREAS, forty-eight states now have prescription drug databases online or in development as the Department of Justice (DOJ) provided funding to support states' efforts to establish and expand new or existing Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs; and
WHEREAS, take-back efforts have resulted in almost a million pounds of unused and unwanted pills being from medicine cabinets across the country where they can be vulnerable to misuse or abuse without doing harm to the environment or water supply; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the US Conference of Mayors will support the effort to decrease prescription drug abuse and its consequences by encouraging the proper disposal of prescription drugs, speaking out about the dangers of misusing and abusing prescription drugs, and exploring the use of naloxone to reverse overdoses; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the US Conference of Mayors supports the ONDCP's 2012 National Drug Control Policy Strategy that outlines a third way to approach drug control as a Nation that treats drug addiction as a disease and promotes a criminal justice system where drug-related crime is addressed in a fair and equitable manner for every American.