Testing It Up

Prescription drugs are meant to help us, not harm us, but some people turn these tools for health into weapons of self-destruction by abusing them. 

Operation UNITE, based in Kentucky, held the second National Rx Drug Abuse Summit in Orlando, Florida April 2-4 to help raise awareness of prescription drug abuse and to facilitate solutions to the nationwide problem.

This year’s event featured a congressional panel with members of the Congressional Caucus on Prescription Drug Abuse, as well as a bevy of keynote speakers that included many of the top names in the fight against drug abuse (both prescription and illicit) in the country.

But keynote speakers were just one element to the summit, which also included educational sessions specific to pharmacists, clinicians, law enforcement, workers’ compensation administrators, insurance administrators and others involved in the dissemination of prescription drugs.

If you happen to have missed the National Rx Drug Abuse Summit, check out my Twitter summary and what I garnered from Twitter about the summit.

Running on its 3rd year, the Cabell County Substance Abuse Prevention Partnership or CCSAPP will have its Annual Drug Prevention Summit on January 8, 2009.

CCSAPP is an association of different organizations and persons mutually working towards reducing local substance abuse especially among the youth, by appealing to society’s consciousness, using education and coming up with resolutions agreed upon by the community.

The Third Annual Drug Prevention Summit will be held at Big Sandy Superstore Arena Conference Center in Huntington, West Virginia from 12:30 to 5:00 pm.

The heart of this matter would highlight the rising development of prescription drug abuse and how to reduce this trend in the community. The program includes a talk by Frances M. Harding, the Director of Center for Substance Abuse Prevention and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration which will be followed by roundtable discussions. There would also be a workshop on prescription drug abuse led by Michael O’Neil, the Director of West Virginia Controlled Substances Advisory Board.

Aside from this, the CCSAPP will also honor the recipients of the Tim White “You’ve Got to Own It” Award, who are the acknowledged individual and organization in the community who met the challenge of taking ownership of the local drug problem and was able to present extraordinary solutions in dealing with the intricate and harmful effects of substance abuse in the community. The nominations for the individual and organization awardees are due by December 29, 2008.

Since this is a community issue, everyone can definitely benefit by attending this affair. For people who are interested in joining this special event, you can visit their website.