Other LanguagesReporter/Anchor:
ATTORNEY GENERAL ROB MCKENNA IS SPEAKING OUT ABOUT A DEADLY DRUG THREAT THAT MOST PARENTS DON’T KNOW ABOUT – PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.
RX1 (:20)
McKenna: “Prescription drug overdose deaths have become, I think it’s fair to say, a national epidemic that eclipse the number of heroin overdoses in the 70s and crack cocaine deaths in the 80s and 90s. And we’re now at a point where in Washington state unintentional drug overdoses are the leading cause of accidental death, exceeding motor vehicle crashes.”
Reporter/Anchor:
MCKENNA APPEARED THIS WEEK AT AN EVENT SPONSORED BY THE SCIENCE AND MANAGEMENT OF ADDICTIONS FOUNDATION. HE SAYS THAT A SHOCKING NUMBER OF KIDS ARE ABUSING DRUGS THAT COME FROM MEDICINE CABINETS.
RX2 (:11)
McKenna: “Four percent of Washington 8th graders and almost ten percent of 10th graders, twelve percent of 12th graders reported using or abusing prescription pain medications in the past 30 days.”
Reporter/Anchor:
SCOTT DEPUY’S (“duh-Pew”) TEENAGE SON, RYAN, DIED LAST YEAR FROM A DRUG OVERDOSE.
RX3 (:12)
Scott DePuy: “We’re 350 days into losing our son, the effects are devastating. Every day you hope that the day before was a nightmare that you’re going to wake up.”
Reporter/Anchor:
DEPUY SAYS HIS SON WAS NO DIFFERENT THAN MOST KIDS, EXCEPT FOR HIS GENETIC PREDISPOSITION TO ADDICTION.
RX4 (:37)
Scott DePuy: “Ryan’s story is not that much different from any other kid in America. He was captain on a soccer team. He was loved throughout the school. He was extremely popular, he was a great kid. He knew that Sundays and holidays were days to be with family. He just got into – he was an addict. And, and unless you understand the disease of addiction, you have to understand that it’s not their fault. They have one choice; they have one choice to take the drug the first time. If they have the addiction in their genes, the choices are gone for them.”
Reporter/Anchor:
RYAN’S MOTHER, CHARLENE, EXPLAINS THAT HER SON DIED FROM A COMBINATION OF OVER-THE-COUNTER AND PRESCRIPTION DRUGS.
RX5 (:23)
“He was on a cold medication and he had methadone in his system. And Xanax and one of the products was in our cabinet which was the cold medicine, because he had a cold. None of those other products were in our medicine cabinet. So he went out to seek elsewhere and not one of those items were enough to kill him. But together, the combination was deadly for Ryan.”
Reporter/Anchor:
EXPERTS AT THIS WEEK’S MEETING ABOUT PRESCRIPTION DRUG ABUSE RECOMMEND THAT YOU KEEP YOUR PRESCRIPTION DRUGS SAFE, BY SECURING THEM AND IMMEDIATELY DISPOSING OF THE ONES YOU AREN’T GOING TO USE. THEY WANT YOU TO REMEMBER TO CHECK, LOCK, AND DISPOSE. FIND OUT MORE AT SAMAFOUNDATION.ORG.
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Contacts:
Dan Sytman, AGO Media Relations Manager, (360) 586-7842
Janelle Guthrie, AGO Communications Director, (360) 586-0725