Washington State

Office of the Attorney General

Attorney General

Bob Ferguson

idahoAttorney General McKenna moderated a panel on prescription drug abuse at a meeting of the Western Attorneys General on Wednesday. The panel included McKenna’s Policy Director, Chris Johnson. The Idaho Mountain Express reports:

"There's a bigger problem with prescription drug use than there ever has been with meth, in terms of human fatalities," Washington Attorney General Rob McKenna said Wednesday.

Stephen J. Pasierb, president and CEO of Partnership for a Drug-Free America, spoke about a major contributing factor to the problem—our society’s lax attitude about prescription drug use:

Pasierb noted that illegal drug use in the U.S. has been dropping during the past three years but that prescription drug abuse has been increasing. He said the problem is compounded because American society has a lax attitude toward prescription drug use, and many assume that "abusing medicine is not dangerous." But such is not the case.

August is Prescription Drug Abuse Awareness Month. Learn about it at StopMedicineAbuse.com.

(Photo courtesy of the Idaho Mountain Express)

-Dan Sytman-