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Each day, nearly five Ohioans die because of drug-related overdose.
The Ohio Department of Health (ODH) has launched a comprehensive education and awareness campaign, known as Prescription for Prevention: Stop the Epidemic, to combat the epidemic of prescription drug overdose and abuse.
Get the Facts:
- From 1999 to 2011, Ohio’s death rate due to unintentional drug overdose increased 440 percent, and the increase in deaths has been driven largely by prescription drug overdoses.
- In Ohio, since 2007, there have been more deaths from drug overdose than from motor vehicle traffic crashes.
- There were 327 fatal drug overdoses in 1999 growing to 1,765 deaths in 2011.
As part of the Prescription for Prevention campaign, we have developed tools to help educate local communities. The campaign focuses on those communities where the highest levels of prescription drug overdose have been reported. Campaign resources can be downloaded at the links below.
Television (30-second)
Radio (30-second)
Drug Disposal Days are implemented to ensure that unwanted medications are collected and destroyed using methods that are both legal and environmentally friendly. According to the 2007 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), a majority of individuals who used pain relievers non-medically in the past 12 months obtained the medication from a friend or family member for free. To assist local communities with the proper disposal of prescription drugs the Ohio Department of Health has developed the following drug disposal day guidelines.
For more information on Ohio’s efforts to address prescription drug overdose please visit the Ohio Department of Health's Drug Poisoning web site or contact the Department's Violence and Injury Prevention Program:
Ohio Department of Health
Violence and Injury Prevention Program
246 North High Street, 8th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215
Telephone: 614-466-2144
Fax: 614-564-2409
Email: HealthyO@odh.ohio.gov
Last Reviewed 4/26/12
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