On the recordMay 24, 2010
today I submitted a resolution designating May 24, 2010, as ``Prescription Drug Disposal Awareness Day.'' May 24 would be Timothy Michael Strain's birthday. Timmy, as his family called him, died last year when he was given two painkillers that had not been prescribed for him. Through their grief, his parents Bernie and Beverly Strain have taken up the cause of safe drug disposal to make sure what happened to their son does not happen to others. In recent years, recreational prescription drug use has grown at an alarming rate. In 2008, approximately 15,200,000 Americans 12 years of age and older reported having taken a prescription drug that had not been prescribed to them for recreational purposes in the previous year. Our children are finding these drugs in our medicine cabinets and the results can be deadly. Apart from the tragic impact on our children, the lack of a safe place to dispose of prescription drugs is harming the environment and infiltrating our water sources. Without a place to turn in prescription drugs people are washing them down the drain where they end up in our rivers and in our drinking water. We must work to find a safe way to dispose of prescription drugs and help make sure that what happened to Timmy Strain does not happen to any other child.
