Paramus Unites in Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention

Those who have witnessed the dangers of prescription drug abuse shared their tales with an audience of community members Tuesday with the hopes that their message will help keep today's youth from embarking on a dangerous path that can start simply by opening the medicine cabinet.

This serious issue brought a number of people to the forum at Paramus High School  to hear from a panel of local officials and experts who all stressed that today's young people need to be aware of how easily drug addiction can start with prescription drugs.

Commercials for medications, even energy drinks, are plastered all over the television as if to say "take a pill for everything and it will be okay" but that is the wrong message, said Assemblywoman Connie Wagner who moderated the event.

Prescription drugs are the number one gateway drug more so than marijuana or ecstasy, said Joe Traina, Paramus High School student assistance counselor.

It is known to lead to heroin addiction which gives the same effects and is cheaper to get from dealers, said Traina.

One can go from percocet to oxycodone to heroin in a matter of days, said the student counselor.

His advice for parents is to look for warning signs such as change in behavior, apperance or friends and if a child does have a problem be sure to get that child some help, he says.

It's easy for a parent to experience anger, denial and shame but such addiction is a life threatening situation that must be helped and there are various resources in the community available, said Traina.

Paramus Police Sergeant John Divine urged people to clean out their medicine cabinets. He said he was shocked when he cleaned out his own and found a number of drugs including Oxycodone that had been prescribed for previous ailments. It was a scary thing to realize that his own kids could have gone in there at any times and would have been able to access these meds, he said.

Divine said these days kids are just given these strong pain meds for their injuries, especially athletes, and it's left in their hands to take them. Parents should administer the doses as these drugs are highly addictive he says. The police sergeant told the audience of a young man who started his addiction simply by taking some pain meds for a sports injury.

Later the kid found himself taking his mother's pills out of the medicine cabinet which led to buying them on the street. The kid's addiction spiraled leading him to become addicted to heroin, said Divine.

The advantage Paramus has is that it is home to a Prescription Medicine DropBox at the police department where people can come in anytime and dispose of their unused medications safely by placing them in this drop box.

Several resources including the Paramus Municipal Alliance which helps organize awareness programs along with the Bergen County Municipal Alliance were also on hand with information for the community. Martin Basner, of the Paramus Municipal Alliance invited anyone interested to get involved with the group.