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Over the next few months, college students will be preparing for finals. As a Doctor of Pharmacy student at Virginia Commonwealth University, I’ll be studying myself. Something that might not be on the minds of campus safety leaders but should be is how to keep medications and prescriptions safe and secure on campus.
According to a 2018 College Prescription Drug Study of the nearly 20,000 college students nationwide from The Ohio State University (OSU), only 8% of respondents said they kept their prescription drugs in a locked space. The majority kept them in an unlocked medicine cabinet or drawer, making them easy to steal.
To prevent medication misuse and abuse, and addiction and overdose deaths, we need more education and awareness on campus around medication safety, ranging from over-the-counter medications to prescription drugs. I am committed to changing that narrative with my Mind Your Meds program, focused on drug safety and abuse prevention from pediatrics to geriatrics, and everyone in between, including college students.