• Tell a Friend
• Print

Welcome to the Home to Homeroom Digest

Parents,

This page is designed to help you become more informed about an issue that should be on every parent's radar - teen cough medicine abuse.

Multiple national surveys point to the disturbing abuse of prescription (Rx) and over-the-counter (OTC) medicines, like OTC cough medicine, among today's teens. Five percent of high school teens admit to having abused cough medicine containing dextromethorphan, or DXM, to get high in the past year.

Parents + School Nurse = A Partnership in Teen Cough Medicine Abuse Prevention
Working on the frontline with teens, school nurses know the range of issues parents deal with concerning the health and welfare of teens. Whether you're looking to educate yourself about preventing teen cough medicine abuse or searching for advice on how to talk to your teen about the risks, the articles below, written by school nurses around the country, will help you get informed and start talking.

We encourage you to check this page often for new tips and advice. Together we can keep teens healthy, safe, and ready to learn.

- Amy Garcia, RN, MSN
  National Association of School Nurses, Executive Director

(Source: Monitoring the Future Study 2009 and Partnership Attitude Tracking Study (PATS) 2009)

Our Partners