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Arkansas website aimed at combatting student prescription drug abuse

The US state of Arkansas has initiated an online education program called Prescription for Life (PfL). Their website will be free to high school students in Arkansas at the beginning of this school year to educate them about the harmful effects of prescription drugs abuse and what they can do prevent it.

PfL’s website uses animations, videos, and replications to get its message across. The real-life simulations show how prescription drug misuse could affect students’ mental and physical health, future goals and relationships with family and friends. The scenario-based exercises show students how they could support other students in making choices to use prescription drugs properly.

“Across our state, we face a prescription drug abuse epidemic, with 40 percent of Arkansas teens reporting that they have tried prescription drugs,” said Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge on PfL’s website. “I have made it my mission to bring critical, life-saving prescription drug abuse prevention education to high schools across Arkansas.”

Topics on the site include definitions of drug types, how to use, store and dispose of prescription drugs, a scientific explanation of how drug addiction affects the body and mind, how to help others avoid abusing drugs, and disproving myths about prescription drugs.

PfL’s website notes that Arkansas ranks first in the US for misuse of prescription pain relievers among youths between the ages of 12 and 17. Over half the teens in the state say it is simple to take prescription painkillers from their relatives’ medicine chests.

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