Experts will discuss abuse of prescription medications

BY REBECCA MORTON Staff Writer

MARLBORO – Parents who suspect their child may be abusing prescription drugs and those who want to learn more about this growing national problem are invited to attend a special presentation to be held at 7 p.m.April 8 in the auditorium of Marlboro High School, Route 79.

The presentation of “What’s Missing From Your Medicine Cabinet … and Other Secrets Your Kids May Be Keeping From You” will explain the signs to look for and ways to help.

Special Agent Douglas Collier of the U.S. Drug EnforcementAdministration (DEA) will speak at the event, which has been organized with the cooperation of the Marlboro Police Department, the Marlboro Alliance for the Prevention of Substance Abuse and staff of Marlboro High School.

According to the Partnership for A Drug-Free America’s Internet Web site, one in five teenagers has abused a prescription pain medication. Many teens think the drugs are safe because they have legitimate uses, but taking them without a prescription to get high or “selfmedicate” can be as dangerous and addictive as using street narcotics.

Lt. Douglas Van Note of the Marlboro Police Department’s Community Services Unit described this type of drug abuse as a national epidemic.

Collier is heading up the “Pharming in the Garden State” program, which focuses on making parents more aware of legal drugs being taken illegally. This program is part of an overall initiative, “Medicine for Success,” by Gerard P. McAleer, the special agent in charge of the DEA’s New Jersey division.

Pharming is a slang term that refers to

the use of prescription or overthe

counter drugs to get high, according to information

provided by theMarlboro

Alliance for the Prevention

of Substance Abuse

and the Marlboro Police

Department.

The first hour of the

April 8 presentation will feature remarks by Collier, to be followed by a question and answer session with a panel of experts.

Collier described a type of party at which teenagers who have stolen pills from their family’s medicine cabinet bring them to the party and place them in a bowl. The teens then sample various pills.

Van Note said some teens obtain pills via the Internet without a prescription.

“We’re never going to get it out of town, but we want it out of our schools,” Van Note said.

TheApril 8 event is open to all parents. For more information, contact the Marlboro Alliance at (732) 617-0100 or call Lt. Douglas Van Note at (732) 617-0186.