Clinicians are often unaware of the ultimate fate of the medications they prescribe, and may unwittingly fuel diversion and abuse. Legitimate access to controlled substances is necessary for the health of patients in need of such treatment, but clinicians have a responsibility to minimize the potential for abuse and diversion. Unlikely patients could be a source of diversion, such as those with teenage family members who may take prescription medications from their homes, or patients who underestimate the dangers of sharing their medications with others.

A central theme of the activities available through this website are the Insights from Recovering Teens on Preventing Prescription Drug Diversion–they will describe their trajectory of drug use to addiction, including why they began abusing prescription medication, availability/access, and drug(s) of choice.

Our expert faculty will put the extent of teen prescription opioid abuse and diversion in the United States in context, and will suggest strategies for clinicians to minimize diversion and abuse, while maintaining appropriate therapeutic access. This will include both patient education and tools to assist in prudent prescribing with comprehensive risk assessments, careful monitoring, and thoughtful drug selection in order to promote patient safety and limit illegitimate access to prescription medications.

The final components of this Website will include registration for a live dinner meeting (in Alexandria, Virginia), registration for a live nation-wide teleconference/webinar series, a monograph, an archived teleconference/webinar, and a resource page. Each item will be made live on this Website as it becomes available–please be patient and visit us again soon–to sign up for an email alert please click here .