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Call or Chat with NC Poison Control Anytime at 1-800-222-1222

Preventing Teen Prescription Medication Poisoning

Sharing Prescription Pills Can Kill a Friendship.

If you or someone you know has misused or abused prescription medications, NC Poison Control can help.

Sharing Pills Can Kill

Unintentional poisoning is one of the leading causes of death among 15-24 year olds.¹ Pain relievers, antidepressants, stimulants and other pills dispensed by a doctor for a family member or friend can be deadly if shared or misused in other ways.

NC Poison Control can help if someone has accidentally or intentionally:

Taken another person’s medicine
Taken too much of his or her own medicine

NC Poison Control is available 24/7 to help with your medication questions and concerns. Nurses and pharmacists handle all calls confidentially and free of charge.

Please put this number in your phone: 1-800-222-1222.

¹ Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. Web-based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting System (WISQARS) [online]). 2025 Sept 12. Available from URL: www.wisqars.cdc.gov.

Resources

Sharing Pills Can Kill PowerPoint for Educators

Free materials about keeping your home safe for you or someone you know.

Pop Quiz

Know the facts and test your knowledge on prescription drug misuse in children and adolescents

1 / 6

Where do more than half of people misusing pain relievers get them from?

the grocery store

their doctor

friends and relatives

the streets

2 / 6

Each day in the US, approximately how many adolescents misuse pain relievers for the first time?

500

900

1200

3000

3 / 6

Of 13-18 year-olds, how many exposures were about pain relievers, antidepressants, and stimulants or street drugs?

15%

28%

43%

66%

4 / 6

On average, young people who have opioid prescriptions by their senior year are how much more likely to misuse prescription opioids after high school?

17%

45%

33%

67%

5 / 6

According to research spanning the past few decades, what percentage of opioid deaths in children and adolescents involve a prescription opioid?

25%

64%

98%

73%

6 / 6

I can confidentially call or chat with NC Poison Control 24/7 for help about a prescription medication overdose.

True

False

1 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), National Vital Statistics System. Ten Leading Causes of Injury Deaths by Age Group Highlighting Unintentional Injury Deaths, United States – 2016.

2 Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. (2018). Key substance use and mental health indicators in the United States: Results from the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (HHS Publication No. SMA 18-5068, NSDUH Series H-53). Rockville, MD: Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Retrieved from www.samhsa.gov/data/

3 Gaither JR, Shabanova V, Leventhal JM. US National Trends in Pediatric Deaths From Prescription and Illicit Opioids, 1999-2016. JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1(8):e186558. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2018.6558

4 Miech, R., Johnston, L., O’Malley, P. M., Keyes, K. M., & Heard, K. (2015). Prescription opioids in adolescence and future opioid misuse. Pediatrics, peds-2015.

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North Carolina Poison Control

P.O. Box 32861

Charlotte, NC 28232-2861

1-800-222-1222

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