BeMedWise: for the health of your families

Toolkits for parents

The members of your family may need to use medicines for a variety of reasons. From treating fevers, coughs, and headaches to more chronic or serious medical conditions, as parents of young children you want to be in the know about medicine safety and the unique considerations for young children. These tips and tools will help you to be medicine smart for the health of your family.

• Top 10 medicine use tips for parents and families
• Ask the right questions: Questions to ask about the medicines you and your family members take 
• FamilyWize: A guide to smart, safe prescription use and savings 
• What’s your family’s medicine action plan? Medicine safety for families.  
• The Dos and Don’t of Medicine Disposal In Your Home: infographic and video 
   

Preventing medicine abuse and drug abuse

Toolkits to facilitate talks with teens and conversations with communities

Nearly one in five teens (or 4.5 million kids) reports abusing prescription medications to get high, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. In fact, today’s teenagers are more likely to have abused medications than a variety of illegal drugs. Fortunately, parents can play an important role in preventing their teens from abusing prescription drugs. These toolkits can help you get educated about the rising trend of teen medicine abuse and arm you with skills to have conversations with your teen and to address medicine abuse with other teen influencers in your community.

Medicine Abuse: Not Worth the Risk—Even If It’s Legal 

A comprehensive range of educational information to enable and encourage parents to talk to their teens about preventing prescription medicine abuse. Developed in partnership with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

 Combatting Teen Medicine Abuse—Community Education Workshop

A community workshop toolkit that provides slide decks, info sheets, and talking points for parents and other teen influencers (teachers, coaches, community leaders, healthcare providers) to educate their local community about the dangers of medicine abuse and effective prevention strategies.

Resources for Community Action: Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention

A comprehensive online directory of organizations involved in combating medicine abuse and organizes resources into four categories: awareness, prevention, treatment and recovery.

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Additional educational resources

• Visit BeMedwise’s library for more free, downloadable health education tools and tips 
• Visit our YouTube channel for educational videos on key health topics