A dose of reality

More than 70 percent of people who abuse prescription painkillers get them through friends or relatives. Let’s hope that statistic doesn’t include your children.

What Prescribing Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Providers Can Do

  • Talk with patients about the dangers and risks of prescription painkillers, especially those that include opioids.
  • Offer alternative prescription painkiller options (those that don’t include opioids) to patients.
  • Make sure patients are aware of the high risk of addiction, especially among young people ages 12-25.
  • Reinforce that patients should take medicine only if it has been prescribed for them by their doctor, physician, dentist or prescribing medical professional.
  • Reinforce that patients should take medication only as directed. They should never adjust the schedule or dosage on their own.
  • Store prescriptions securely – ideally, locked in a cabinet or drawer.
  • Dispose of unused, expired or unwanted medication properly.

Resources for Prescribing Medical Providers

Get the facts on the dangers of prescription opioid abuse and share them with your patients.

Share Drug Take Back locations near you and encourage patients to dispose of any expired or unwanted prescription opioids.

Post and distribute free DOSE OF REALITY informational and educational materials, created specifically for you by your peers in the Georgia medical, dental and pharmaceutical communities, which you can use in communicating with your patients.

The Georgia Department of Law, along with our partners on the Statewide Opioid Taskforce, has put together an easy-to-use online ordering web portal that contains posters, brochures and fact sheets specific to medical, dental, pharmacy and pain management professionals.

The materials can be accessed on the portal at no charge and many of them are customizable (i.e., you may add your organization’s name and/or logo). Click here to find out how you can receive a password to access the online ordering web portal.

Familiarize yourself with the CDC Guidelines for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain.