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MAHEC Distributes Opioid Awareness Flyer to 171 Schools Across Western North Carolina

To the Editor—In response to the invited commentary “Fighting the Opioid Epidemic in North Carolina with Leadership, Compassion, and Creativity: Community Approaches” featured in the May 2018 edition of the North Carolina Medical Journal, the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC) in Asheville would like to share a creative strategy our organization has used to raise awareness about the opioid crisis in North Carolina. In partnership with the Buncombe County Health Department, MAHEC has created an opioid awareness flyer for parents of middle and high school students with information on how to prevent prescription opioid addiction and overdose in teens and how to dispose of unused opioids. MAHEC has targeted teens for this educational effort in light of data demonstrating that more than 90% of adults with substance use disorders started using before age 18 [1]. In addition, teens who received a prescription for opioid pain medication by grade 12 were at a 33% increased risk of misusing an opioid between ages 19 and 25 [2]. The front of the two-sided flyer includes questions that parents should ask health care providers before their children are prescribed opioids. It also lists which over-the-counter medications provide effective and non-addictive pain relief and what to do if parents notice signs of substance use disorder in their child. The back of the flyer provides instructions on how to safely dispose of unused opioids via drop boxes or last-resort strategies such as mixing unused opioids with coffee grounds or cat litter when drop boxes are…