Queen Anne’s County Office of Drug and Alcohol Prevention will be coordinating the American Medicine Chest Challenge at the Sudlersville Volunteer Fire Dept.

This initiative will challenge Queen Anne’s County residents to take the Five-Step American Medicine Chest Challenge:

Take inventory of your prescription and over-the-counter medicine.
Lock your medicine chest.
Dispose of your unused, unwanted, and expired medicine in your home or at an American Medicine Chest Challenge Disposal site.
Take your medicine(s) exactly as prescribed.
Talk to your children about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.

To help combat this growing threat,  QAC Office of Drug and Alcohol Prevention is hosting an American Medicine Chest Challenge (AMCC) collection site on November 12, 2011 at  Sudlersville Volunteer Fire Dept., 203 South Church Street,Sudlersville. Residents can also find local collection site information on www.americanmedicinechestchallenge.com or dispose of their medicine at home, following the guidelines on the site.

According to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, there has been a 400% increase in substance abuse treatment admissions for people abusing prescription drugs, with 70 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers saying they obtained them from the medicine cabinets of friends or relatives. Emergency room visits involving the misuse or abuse of pharmaceutical drugs have doubled over the past five years and, for the third year in a row, exceed the number of visits involving illicit drugs.

This Challenge will raise awareness about the dangers of abusing prescription drugs and reduce the availability of potent drugs that lead kids down a path to addiction,” explained American Medicine Chest Challenge Chief Executive Officer Angelo M. Valente.

“With the American Medicine Chest Challenge we are calling on residents to see their medicine cabinets through new eyes — as an access point for potential misuse and abuse of over-the-counter and prescription medicine by young people,” explained Valente.

The American Medicine Chest Challenge has gained the national support of PhRMA, The Partnership at DrugFree.Org, Catalent Pharma Solutions, the Generic Pharmaceutical Association, and the American College of Emergency Physicians.