US OTC drugmakers welcome medication abuse campaign

The US Consumer Healthcare Products Association has offered its support for the US Congress's recent efforts to examine the problem of medicine abuse. The House of Representatives' Reform Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human Resources heard from Stephen Pasierb, president of the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, who highlighted the CHPA's campaign against the abuse of over-the-counter remedies. The CHPA is running a public awareness campaign, the Rx and OTC Medicine Abuse Education Campaign, aimed at parents.

In a statement, Linda Suydam, the CHPA's president, said: "it's important that parents understand that their children may be abusing the very medicines that we use to safely and effectively treat common everyday ailments, by taking exceedingly higher doses than what is recommended for treatment."

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