Safer Lock partners with DisposeRx to help families double up on medication safekeeping at home. Both companies create innovative products to help protect young children from accidental medicine poisoning and teens from Rx drug experimentation that can lead to substance abuse disorder and overdose deaths.
Medications Pose a Serious Risk to Children
Both medication poisoning and prescription drug misuse can devastate the lives of families. Both of these can occur from improperly storing prescription medications in the home.
Medicine Poisoning
Medications are the leading cause of accidental poisoning deaths in children.
“About 165 kids – or roughly four school busloads of children – are seen in emergency rooms for medication-related treatment every day in the U.S.,” said Kate Carr, President and CEO of Safe Kids Worldwide. “Every one of those trips was preventable. We can and must do better.”
Among young children, 95 percent of medication-related poisoning visits to emergency departments are caused by a child ingesting medication while unsupervised and approximately five percent are due to dosing errors made by caregivers. “Ultimately, safe storage and safe dosing mean safe kids,” said Carr.
Prescription Drug Misuse
16 million Americans over the age of 12 misuse prescription drugs every year. Opioids and painkillers are the most commonly misused prescription drugs, but benzodiazepines, stimulants, and sedatives are also misused.
Most people who misuse or abuse a prescription drug (taking medicine without a prescription, that was prescribed for someone else, in amounts other than prescribed, or with the intent to get high) got access to the medications from a friend or family member. Oftentimes, the family member may not even realize they were being an unwitting drug supplier and don’t notice when one or two pills go missing from a prescription bottle.
Innovative Solutions Help Parents Protect Kids from Prescription Dangers
The bad news is that prescription medication in the home is dangerous. The good news is that companies are creating innovative ways to safely secure and dispose of prescription meds so kids can be protected from accidental poisoning or intentional misuse.
Rx Guardian offers locking solutions that help parents secure medications at home. From their Safer Lock bottle with a combination locking cap to Safer Lock medicine lock box with combination cap to the Rx Locking Cap that pharmacists can put on a prescription bottle before it gets picked up by a patient, Rx Guardian products add another level of security above and beyond the conventional “child-proof” caps that come standard on prescription bottles.
Dispose Rx offers a unique method for destroying unwanted and unused medications after they’re no longer needed. Instead of leaving medications in a bottle in the back of a cupboard, Dispose Rx is a nontoxic solution that dissolves rx pills so they can be safely eliminated without harming the environment.
Rx Guardian and Dispose Rx have teamed up to offer a Safe Medication and Disposal Kit for families who have potent prescriptions in their homes. The kit combines the Safer Lock medicine lock box to secure prescription medications while you need them and dispose of Rx packets to safely dispose of medications once they’re no longer needed.
Note: This package is no longer available, learn more about Rx Guardian’s current medication storage solutions at rxguardian.com/products/.
No parent should have to worry about their child’s safety and wellbeing when they pick up a prescription from the pharmacy. Being aware of the dangers of prescription medication in the home is the first step to protecting your children from the horrors of accidental poisoning or misuse that can lead to substance abuse disorders and overdose deaths. Affordable, easy-to-use products such as medicine lock boxes and prescription disposal pouches are the next step to doing your part to keep kids safe.
