The lovely Mimi dropped me a line the other day to let me know of a new project that she been working on with the Consumer HealthCare Product Association. They’re the member0based association that represents manufacturers of OTC medicines and wow that’s a hella mouthful for the first paragraph isn’t it? Ha!

Anyway, Mimi wrote to let me know about the Stop Medicine Abuse initiative that was launched a few months ago. While recent surveys say more parents are talking to their teens about risky behaviors, there’s still a long way to go to make sure EVERY parent is doing what I preach all the time – Talking to their Kids. Remember that teens who learn about drugs from their parents are about half as likely to abuse them!

To help that along, many OTC cough medicines will be featuring the image above on their packaging, hoping to be a key to remind parents that it’s not just the main hard core drugs that they need to be on the lookout for, but also simpler and easier to get things like cough meds. Those medicines are as easy as opening the cabinet at home, readily accessible and thus very easily abused.

Over at Stop Medicine Abuse website, they are taking action and hoping to help educate parents in the dangers, as well as helping them open up that important conversation with their teens. Take a few minutes to head over there and see the information they’ve collected – including the code words teens are using in reference to using these drugs. (Dex. Triple Cs. Tussin. Robofizzing. Etc.)

Our best defense as a parent is being informed, so that we can have those discussions with our kids. Check out the site today – and tell Mimi I sent ya.

PS: Click here for a report on a recent National Survey re: kids and Prescriptions! – Thanks Candice!