Lock Your Meds Gives Adults A Voice to Keep Kids Safe from Prescription Medication

Lock Your Meds Initiative is a Universal Prevention Campaign

January 11th, 2023 – Miami, FL– Did you know that 53% of misused medications come from family and friends, not a stranger/drug dealer or the internet? The Lock Your Meds® campaign, created by the National Family Partnership and its affiliate Informed Families/The Florida Family Partnership is a universal prevention campaign intended to save lives by preventing prescription drug misuse, which is the fastest growing substance misuse problem in America. 

Currently, the drug problem has a different identity and must be addressed with new combat tactics. To think that you, as parents and grandparents, could unknowingly be a supplier of prescription medications to your children is disturbing. Through our established, national network of supporters such as Community Impact North Carolina and Publix Pharmacy®, we can begin to educate our nation on the Lock Your Meds® initiative and help parents implement preventative steps to keep children and teens from accessing these medications. However, our work doesn’t stop here.

We want to grow and join forces with you, your community groups and your healthcare organizations that are not yet involved. We want to help arm each of you with the appropriate information and tools to be our Number One line of defense against this growing epidemic. The Lock Your Meds® campaign utilizes a variety of mediums to deliver its message, and all are available to you for use in your organization’s efforts and in your community. These resources can be found at https://lockyourmeds.org/spread-the-word/. 

As parents and guardians, you don’t have to feel helpless in this fight. You must be aware and take the appropriate steps to not share. Everyone can implement these preventative steps to help ensure your children have a drug-free future:

• Take frequent inventory of your medications, keeping track of quantities of both prescribed and over-the-counter medications.
• Lock your meds in a safe location where children cannot access them.
• Talk to your children regularly about the dangers of misusing prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
• Get involved by joining our campaign.
• Purchase a Vaultz® Lockbox to instill proper storage for your prescription medication at https://www.nfp.org/store. 

Knowledge helps save lives. In these last 25 years, it has taken more than just our core staff at NFP to share that knowledge of drug prevention with our nation. We are very thankful for all the parent groups, Red Ribbon Certified Schools, community groups, healthcare professionals and organizations that joined in our efforts to educate and nurture parents and families.

We are especially grateful to Community Impact NC and Publix Pharmacy® for their generous support of the Lock Your Meds® campaign. We look forward to continuing to support each of you on a national and local level, providing you with resources and a national voice.

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About the National Family Partnership

The National Family Partnership was established in 1980 and is a national leader in drug prevention, education, and advocacy. Its mission is to lead our nation’s families and communities in nurturing the full potential of healthy, drug-free youth. Red Ribbon Week is the nation’s largest and oldest drug prevention campaign. NFP created the campaign in response to the 1985 abduction and murder of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. In addition to the Red Ribbon Campaign®, NFP sponsors the Lock Your Meds® Campaign to prevent prescription drug abuse. Learn more about Red Ribbon Week at www.redribbon.org and NFP at www.nfp.org.