Prevent Opiate Abuse RI is dedicated to significantly reducing the abuse of prescription opiate based painkillers in Rhode Island through advancing initiatives, both governmental and non-governmental, that are effective and by doing so establishing a model that can be adapted throughout the nation. According to the Center for Disease Control& Prevention, prescription drug abuse and the related problem of heroin addiction has become an epidemic causing nearly 30,000 deaths annually. It is the nation’s fastest-growing drug problem and the leading accidental cause of death nationally and in Rhode Island. We are in it for the long-haul and committed to the all out multi-dimensional effort required to produce results.
The American Medicine Chest Challenge is a community-based public health initiative, with law enforcement partnership, designed to raise awareness about the dangers of prescription drug abuse and provide a nationwide day of disposal—at a collection site or in the home—of unused, unwanted and expired medicine, held on the second Saturday of November each year in communities across the country.