Why You Need to Lock Away Your Medication

Why You Need to Lock Away Your Medication

A medication lock box is an important tool to have in your home. If you have kids, grandkids, or pets; a medication lockbox is a must. Even if you don’t have prescription medications, over-the-counter medications (OTC) can be just has dangerous to children and pets.

Prescription Medication

First, let’s start with your prescription medications. If you have prescription medications, don’t tell many people about your medication types, even your children. Next, find the proper medication lock box to keep your prescriptions in. Why is this important? Of course, you don’t want your little ones ingesting your medications thinking it’s candy or more tragically older kids and teens getting into your medication to experiment.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, prescription and over-the-counter drugs, (after marijuana and alcohol), are the most commonly abused substances by Americans 14 and older. That’s a good reason to lock up your meds. Everyday more than 3,300 kids begin experimenting with prescription drugs.

Here are some of the most commonly abused and therefore more apt to be sought after are: Fentanyl (Duragesic), Hydrocodone (Vicodin), Oxycodone (OxyContin), Oxymorphone (Opana), Propoxyphene (Darvon), Hydromorphone (Dilaudid), Meperidine (Demerol), Diphenoxylate (Lomotil), Alprazolam (Xanax), and Diazepam (Valium). They could be stolen to abuse or to sell. The street value of some of these medications can be quite significant. The street value could be $.50 to $1 per milligram. So a 10 milligram Oxycontin could get $10 per pill. If your doctor has prescribed you 60 pills per month, that’s a $600 street value.

Therefore, if you have guest, children, grandchildren, or workers coming into your home, a medication lockbox is a must. Moreover, if your medications were to get stolen, you would be in pain  or sick without them. The physician is not likely to re-prescribe you more medication because of state laws prevent them from doing so until a certain amount of time has passed.

Here is a great video from Partnership for Drug-Free Kids that also has a powerful message about why you need to lock up all your medication.

Over the Counter and Vitamins

Next, let’s talk about OTC vitamins and supplements. This one can be especially dangerous for children. Children’s vitamins contain iron, which is a good thing. However, children’s vitamins by design taste like candy. If a child were to take more than the recommended dose in a day, it could be detrimental to the child’s health. Iron overdose is leading cause of poison-related injury or deaths in children.

Don’t Forget About Your Pets

Oh, and did I mention pets. Dogs and cats be mischievous and get into things that are not good for them. Did you know that Tylenol is deadly for cats? In fact, there are not any OTC medicines that are totally safe for dogs or cats. Another reason to put your medication in a medication lock box or locking bag.

Don’t Despair

I know all of this seems scary, but don’t despair. There are some some great, easy solutions to help you keep your medication safe on the market today. Many of these medication lock boxes and bags are very cost efficient too. However if you have some of the more dangerous medications in your house you may want to consider a more durable lock box. You can find a lot of suggestions on our site with reviews and information so you can make an informed decision on the best lock box for your needs.