A resolution designating the month of October 2011 as "National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month".

Mr. President, I am pleased to join Senator Feinstein in cosponsoring a resolution designating the month of October 2011 as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. The abuse of prescription drugs and cold medicine is currently the fastest growing drug abuse trend in the country. According to the most recent National Survey of Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), more and more people are turning to using controlled substances without a doctor's prescription. The same survey shows that nearly one-third of all respondents who initiated drug use in the past year used prescription drugs. People between the ages of 12 and 25 are the most common group to abuse these drugs.

More people are dying because of this abuse. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the unintentional deaths involving prescription narcotics increased 117 percent from the years 2001 to 2005. In my home State of Iowa, the Governor's Office of Drug Control Policy reports that at least 40 people died from an overdose of prescription painkillers in 2009. This represents a sharp increase in the last decade when only three people died from painkiller overdoses in 2000.

Abuse of over-the-counter, OTC, cough and cold medicines is also alarming. While these common cold medicines are safe and effective if used properly, the abuse of these medicines can also be destructive. According to a study conducted by the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, nearly 1 in 10 young people between the ages of 12 and 17 have intentionally abused cough medicine to get high off its main ingredient dextromethorphan. This is a problem that cannot be ignored.

Millions of Americans use these medicines every year to treat a variety of symptoms due to injury, depression, insomnia, and the effects of the common cold. Many legitimate users of these drugs often do not use as much medication as the prescription contains. As a result, these drugs remain in the family medicine cabinet for months or years because people forget about them or do not know how to properly dispose of them. However, many of these drugs, when not properly used or administered, are just as addictive and deadly as street drugs like methamphetamine or cocaine.

According to the NSDUH, more than half of the people who abuse these drugs reported that they obtained OTC

and prescription drugs from a friend or relative or from the family medicine cabinet. As a result, groups and organizations like the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Office of National Drug Control Policy, the Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America, the Consumer Healthcare Products Association, and the Partnership for a Drug-Free America have been reaching out to communities throughout the Nation to raise awareness of this growing drug abuse trend and encourage communities to tackle the problem head on. Many community antidrug coalitions, including those in Iowa, public health officials, and law enforcement officials have been holding townhalls, organizing community ``clean out your medicine cabinet'' events, and holding many other events to raise awareness of this growing abuse in an effort to reverse this trend.

We can stop the growing trend of medicine abuse in its tracks, but it will require all sectors of the community to join together to make it happen. The National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month resolution promotes the message that over-the-counter and prescription medicines must be taken as directed, and when used recreationally or in large doses they can have serious and deadly consequences. This resolution will help remind parents that access to drugs that are abused doesn't just happen in alleys and on the streets, but can often occur right in the home. I urge all my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution.

Mr. President, I rise to introduce a resolution designating October 2011 as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month with my colleagues and friends, Senators Charles Grassley, Richard Blumenthal, Sheldon Whitehouse, Dick Durbin, Jay Rockefeller, Joe Manchin and Rob Portman.

According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, prescription drug abuse is our Nation's fastest-growing drug problem. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that the non-medical use of prescription drugs rose from 2.5 percent of the population in 2008 to 2.8 percent in 2009. The 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health illustrates that the abuse of prescription medications such as pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants, and sedatives is second only to marijuana, the number one illegal drug of abuse in the United States.

Sadly the number of people who have unintentionally overdosed on prescription drugs is rising rapidly. The misconception that taking prescription drugs, even if not prescribed by a doctor is safer than using street drugs is becoming more and more widespread, as seen in the number of visits by individuals to hospital emergency rooms involving the misuse or abuse of pharmaceutical drugs which has doubled over the past five years.

Throughout National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month, we encourage communities to promote the message that over-the-counter and prescription medicines are to be taken only as labeled or prescribed and to encourage safe disposal of unused medications. Educating the public on the dangerous consequences of taking prescription drugs to get high or in large doses is critical.

We applaud the efforts of the Drug Enforcement Administration, DEA, and local and State law enforcement agencies across the country to collect potentially dangerous, expired, unused or unwanted medications during their nationwide prescription drug ``take back'' campaign. We invite our colleagues to join us in continuing the efforts of the DEA and partnering organizations to combat the misuse of psychotherapeutic medications by designating October 2011 as National Medicine Abuse Awareness Month. This is an opportunity for Americans to reaffirm our national, State and local level commitment to living healthy, drug-free lifestyles.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from the following resolutions en bloc, and the Senate proceed to their consideration en bloc: S. Res. 273 and S. Res. 261.

I ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate, and any related statements be printed in the Record as if read.