Attack Partner with Public Health Wednesday

Press Release

 The community is invited to clean out their medicine cabinets and drop off old or unused prescription and over-the-counter medication at a onetime drop off site at the Bayshore before the Owen Sound Attack game on Wednesday November 21^st, between 6:00pm-7:30pm. The Attack will be giving everyone who drops off old/unused medication a “Buy one ticket Get one free” coupon for any regular season game.

This event is a launching of a “Medication Misuse” awareness campaign being funded by the Grey Bruce Crystal Meth Task Force. The goal of this campaign is to increase knowledge around the proper disposal and storage of medication, reduce the amount of circulating unused/expired medication (especially opioid pain relievers) and to strengthen the community’s understanding of non-medicinal use of medication.

According to the Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey (2011) an estimated:

• 20% of students (gr.7-12) in Ontario have used a prescription drug non-medically (without prescription) in the past year;
• 14% of students have used a prescription opioid pain reliever (e.g. Percocet, Tylenol 3, Demerol, OxyContin and codeine) for non medical purposes in the past year;
• 1 in 10 students have used over-the-counter cough and cold medicine to get high; 
• 70% of students who use medications non-medically report stealing them from home.

This campaign has received tremendous community support, as shown below(picture of all community partners with pharmacy in background?). Other partners and supporters of this campaign include the Owen Sound Attack, Owen Sound Police Services, Ontario Provincial Police, Crime Stoppers, Hope Grey Bruce Mental Health and Addictions services, The City of Owen Sound, local pharmacies and the Grey Bruce Health Unit.

 

 (Nathan can be reached at nathanfournier@mainehockeyjournal.com)