Part of a Pharmacists job included looking for drug abuse. Pharmacists are trained to stop prescription drug abuse. An article from the National institute on Drug Abuse states, “Pharmacists can serve as the first line of defense in recognizing prescription drug abuse” (Preventing and recognizing prescription drug abuse). This means that pharmacists are likely to be the one who stops drug abuse or the ones who let drug abuse happen.
Other things pharmacists do is produce Public service announcements (PSAs) for the public that shoes a negative attitude toward prescription drug abuse. Below I have an example of a PSA video from the Board of Pharmacy.
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Many precautionary steps
are taken by pharmacists. Some of these steps include checking family abuse
history, setting a time limit for medications, and intervening when any
suspicions arises (Finch). Two other things pharmacists can do in stopping drug
abuse is using hotlines to alerts other pharmacy’s when fraudulent prescription
is suspected, and using prescription drug monitoring programs (Preventing and
Recognizing prescription drug abuse). These drug monitoring programs require
pharmacists to log each filled prescription they make (Preventing and recognizing
prescription drug abuse).
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Video Source: (Board of Pharmacy Prescription Drug PSA)