Katie Couric's Notebook: Prescription Drugs

By: Katie Couric
Topics: Katie Couric's Notebook

These days it seems like there are pills for everything: ones that help you with anxiety, and ones that help you lose weight, ones for restless legs, and wandering minds, and even limp libidos.

With all those pills floating around it's no wonder that prescription drug abuse has become the country's fastest growing drug problem.

But a new government report still has some startling findings.

From 1998 to 2008 there was a 400 percent increase in treatment for addiction to prescription painkillers and it spanned virtually every demographic.

Another recent study found that 7 out of the top 10 drugs twelfth graders report abusing are prescription medications like Vicodin and Adderall.

The government report offers one simple fix for parents: get rid of your old prescriptions!

These days gateway drugs are just as likely to come in plastic vials as plastic baggies.

Don't let your own medicine cabinet become just as dangerous as the pusher on the corner.

That's a page from my notebook.

I'm Katie Couric, CBS News.

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by dose_control August 13, 2010 1:09 PM EDT

We agree with the theme of this segment: increased security of abuse-potential medications is indeed one very important element of reducing prescription drug abuse.

There are clearly too many inherent dangers involved with the standard "pop top, access all at once" container for abuse-potential medications. Pilferage and accessing too many pills at once to ingest, share, or sell is far too easy with current standard pill bottles.

Please see www.dosecontrol-llc.com for a programmable, handheld, portable, battery-powered, tamper-resistant, serial-numbered, refillable dispenser. Its robust yet cost-effective simplistic patented design enables dispensing of pills/capsules/tablets no faster than the prescribed and programmed rate. It uses no key or other "back door access" (beyond physically breaking the device and causing visible damage), yet locks securely after closure and reopens for refills when empty. Medication adherence is also addressed via audio and visual patient reminders when dosage available. US patent 7,108,153.

Dose Control LLC www.dosecontrol-llc.com

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by kenhamlett August 13, 2010 7:25 PM EDT: Maybe you can recommend a container that does not dispense the drugs at all. Few people need them. Control of the prescription is not the answer. Withholding the drugs are the right answer.