I don't want to be unduly alarmist, but I just read the article, "The Killer in your Medicine Cabinet," in the May 2008 issue of Ladies Home Journal. Apparently (and it's been in the news a lot) kids are raiding medicine cabinets and passing prescription drugs around to their friends.
In this article, two good teenage boys, age 15, went to their school's homecoming dance, came home, went to sleep, and never woke up. The parents and authorities found out that they'd each taken 2 to 3 methadone tablets and it was enough to overdose them. Some kid had stolen the pills from his grandmother (it's used to treat rheumatoid arthritis), and was passing them out.
This story freaked me out so much, my husband and I sat down with our 10-year-old the next day to talk about it. It was only two to three pills!
Kids think it's okay, because the medicine has been prescribed by a doctor.
So another thing for us to worry about (but if we talk to our kids about it before they come across it, hopefully they'll do the right thing).
In this article, two good teenage boys, age 15, went to their school's homecoming dance, came home, went to sleep, and never woke up. The parents and authorities found out that they'd each taken 2 to 3 methadone tablets and it was enough to overdose them. Some kid had stolen the pills from his grandmother (it's used to treat rheumatoid arthritis), and was passing them out.
This story freaked me out so much, my husband and I sat down with our 10-year-old the next day to talk about it. It was only two to three pills!
Kids think it's okay, because the medicine has been prescribed by a doctor.
So another thing for us to worry about (but if we talk to our kids about it before they come across it, hopefully they'll do the right thing).
