High school and middle students from Darien are invited to enter a contest to develop a slogan about prescription drug abuse.
Entries must be in by Jan. 8 for the contest, part of an awareness campaign sponsored by Communities 4 Action, a regional group of government and nonprofit leaders.
Darien teens will be competing against teenagers from Stamford, New Canaan and Greenwich to win a $250 prize.
Here’s the announcement about the contest:
We have an alarming problem in our communities and schools that has spiraled out of control among people of all ages. Across the nation, the misuse of prescription medication has become the number one cause of death from drug overdose, with two people dying every day from opioid overdose in Connecticut.
In Stamford alone, at least twelve people have died of drug overdoses since January.
“I can’t tell you how many families I speak to that have children who have become addicted to these substances and virtually anything valuable in their household has been taken,” said Capt. Richard Conklin, who oversees Stamford’s Police Department Narcotics and Organized Crime squad.
That’s why the Opioid Prevention Committee formed by Communities 4 Action has joined forces with local leaders and other community representatives to implement an awareness campaign that includes a slogan contest at NoRxAbuse.com.
“It may take just minutes for a student to come up with a slogan and submit their entry online, but through the process we are hoping they and their parents become more aware of the prescription drug abuse epidemic,” said Ingrid Gillespie, executive director of Communities 4 Action.
The organization, which serves Darien, New Canaan, Stamford and Greenwich, is a “regional action council” of the Connecticut Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.
Parents and teens are often unaware of the fatal dangers of prescription drug abuse since they think that if the “meds” are prescribed by a doctor, they must be safe. That could not be further from the truth.
Even getting high on DXM (in cold medicines) can cause serious side effects like seizures, irregular heartbeats, coma, brain damage, and death. Eight out of ten people who abuse prescription painkillers become addicted to heroin.
Preventing prescription drug abuse is a staggering dilemma since half of prescription med abusers obtain the drugs for free from friends or family. Fifty-two million Americans over the age of twelve have taken prescription meds for non-medical purposes in their lifetime.
The bottom line is that any time a person uses a drug not prescribed to them, this IS drug abuse.
The Contest
Through the NoRxAbuse.com slogan contest, students can learn the facts, help spread information to friends and family, and have an opportunity to make a difference while learning valuable marketing skills.
Part of a poster publicizing the contest.
The slogan contest is open to middle and high school students from New Canaan, Stamford, Darien, and Greenwich. The contest rules, slogan-writing tips, facts, videos, resources, and the online entry form are available at NoRxAbuse.com.
The slogan winner will receive prizes valued at $250 and two honorable mention will receive prizes valued at $100 each. The winning slogan will be chosen based on originality by judges from the Communities4Action committee.
All entries must be received online by the deadline of Jan. 8, 2017, electronically postmarked by 4:30 p.m. First place and two honorable mention winners will be notified by Jan. 13, 2017.
Winning students must be present at the awards ceremony to be held at the Darien Library on the evening of Jan. 19, 2017, during a Darien Health Department presentation featuring author/actor Malcolm Spears, a Stamford native who penned the memoir “Biggie’s Chronicles,” about his drug-abuse journey to sobriety.
Editor’s note: This article originally was published on Dec. 22. The time stamp was changed on Dec. 28 to put the link to it back on the home page.