Bell Ringer Open your student workbook to page 51. Under the heading titled Journal Entry, write a few sentences about a time you were given a prescription from a doctor for a medicine, or a time you took medicine purchased from a store for a cold, allergies or other illness. What were your symptoms and how did the medicine help you?

Unit 5: Tobacco, Alcohol & Other Drug Prevention Lesson 3: Prescription & Over-the- Counter Drugs: Get the Facts

Healthy Behavior Outcomes Avoid misuse and abuse of over-the-counter and prescription drugs.

Lesson Objectives By the end of this lesson, you should be able to: Differentiate between proper use, misuse and abuse of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. Correctly read sample labels for prescription and over-the-counter drugs.

Prescription drug – drug a person can legally get only from a pharmacy with a written prescription from a medical professional. Over-the-counter – drug that can be purchased by anyone in a drug store or grocery store. Over-the-counter drugs are used to treat symptoms of common illnesses, such as a cold, allergies or the flu. Sometimes there are limits on who can purchase an over-the-counter drug, such as needing to be over age 18.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is the federal agency that determines which drugs are going to be prescription drugs and which will be sold over the counter. Some drugs start out being prescription only and then are later designated as over the counter (e.g., Claritin, Zantac). This change takes place after the FDA considers a series of studies to determine the safety of the drug. All drugs approved by the FDA have been shown to work when used correctly.

The FDA also requires drugs used as medicines to be labeled in ways that will guide the consumer in how to take a prescription or over-the-counter drug in the safest way possible. This information is communicated in detail to people through written instructions received from the pharmacy or included inside the packaging. The most basic and obvious information people are given is through the labels on prescription drug containers and the product information on the box or other container for over-the-counter medicines.

What are some similarities between these two labels?

Summary Name of the drug/active ingredient Amount and strength of the drug Instructions on how often and when to take

What are some differences between the labels?

Summary Prescription drug label: Person’s name for whom it was prescribed Prescribing doctor’s name Quantity in the container Number of refills allowed Expiration date Drug store contact information Specific directions for use for the person for whom it was prescribed

Summary Over-the-counter drug label: Uses or symptoms the drug can be used to relieve Purpose of the drug Warnings, including side effects, and information about who shouldn’t use the drug. Generic directions for use, including the amount and timing of doses Other information, such as how to store the medicine and inactive ingredients

Why do you think there are differences between prescription and over-the-counter drug labels?

Summary Over-the-counter drug labels include additional information because it is not known who will be taking the drug. Ex: the drug may be appropriate for a 10 year old as well as an adult, but the dosage, or amount taken, would be different.

Summary Especially with over-the-counter drugs, people may sometimes think that taking more of a drug, or taking a drug more often, will be better or more effective in stopping symptoms, which can lead to misuse. People may misuse prescription drugs when they forget to take a dose, or stop using the drug once the symptoms improve. Remember the one distinction between misuse and abuse has to do with intent and how habitually a person misuses a kind of drug.

Summary (cont.) If a one-time misuse of a legal drug caused physical, emotional, or social problems for the user, you could argue that the person has abused the drug. Just as with other kinds of drugs, misuse and abuse of over-the-counter or prescription drugs can have serious negative consequences, including addiction.

What is the most important thing that you learned today to help you avoid misusing or abusing prescription or over-the-counter drugs?