Saturday, November 11, is the Partnership for a Drug-Free New Jersey’s (PDFNJ) 15^th Annual American Medicine Chest Challenge National Day of Awareness. A national public health initiative to educate the public about the dangers of prescription drug misuse and encourage the safe disposal of prescription drugs through the American Medicine Chest 5-Step Challenge (AMCC).

The AMCC 5-step challenge can help save the lives of our children. We know that many teens who misuse opioids get them from the medicine cabinet of their friends and families, so it is crucial for people to safeguard medicine within their homes.

I encourage everyone to take part in AMCC this year and protect our families from the dangers of prescription drugs and the opioid crisis to ensure that unused or expired prescriptions don’t get into the wrong hands.

The AMCC  5 steps include:

• Take inventory of your prescription and over-the-counter medicine.
• Secure your medicine.
• Dispose of your unused, unwanted, and expired medicine at an American Medicine Chest Disposal Site.
• Do not share medicine prescribed to you.
• Talk to your children and physician about the dangers of prescription drug abuse... they are listening.

In New Jersey, there 218 locations to drop off your medications with several in every county. To find one near you, please visit the American Medicine Chest Challenge website.

Please join us for our next Knock Out Opioid Abuse webinar, “Evidence-Based Programs for Prevention, Treatment and Recovery,” at 11 a.m. Thursday, November 9.