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Teen prescription drug abuse is on the rise due, in large part, to the ease with which these drugs can be obtained compared to yesteryear. Beyond stealing from the family medicine cabinet and buying from illegal drug dealers, they can now get whatever they want from “rogue” internet pharmacies.

These new drug dealers disguise themselves as legitimate suppliers of drugs to those who need them. In reality, they are no different than the classic drug dealer on the street. Like street dealers change corners to avoid getting caught by police, online prescription drug dealers will change website addresses.

Being illegal and elusive, these websites create a serious problem for parents of teens who abuse prescription drugs. Even if parental control software is installed on every computer in the house, there is no way to effectively prevent youths from purchasing drugs on the web. Parents need to stay informed and arm themselves with knowledge.

For this purpose, Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles suggests that parents read the information below from the Treatment Research Institute (TRI) and Unyos, and bookmark the website www.websafeparent.com. Although the website launch date is in September, it promises to be a good tool for parents concerned about adolescent prescription drug abuse.

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Philadelphia, August 3, 2009: The Treatment Research Institute (TRI) and Unyos, a Maryland-based software developer, announced today they will collaboratively develop a software platform to help parents, professionals and others address the danger of teen-age access to rogue Internet pharmacies.

Due for release September 2009 at www.websafeparent.com, the novel TRI/Unyos website will offer a mix of downloadable, science-based information, other multi-media resources, and an on-line community network. The goal is to help concerned parents, patients and professionals understand and manage the dangers that Internet access to prescription drugs poses to cyber-savvy teen-agers and young adults.

The resource will build upon “WebSafe,” an existing TRI training for parents. WebSafe is based on TRI’s research into Internet pharmacies, where “no questions asked” purchase of dangerous prescription drugs – some just as lethal as heroin and other street drugs – is commonly available.

“Drug addiction is a major problem of our society. It destroys human potential and community and has led to an overburdened criminal justice system. We are excited by the opportunity to help TRI address this misunderstood health care problem and continue the shift to prevention and treatment.” stated Mr. Carey Kriz, the CEO of Unyos. “We were looking for a partner to help us explore how the Internet could be used to enhance social communication and support in health care, and TRI, with its experience with WebSafe and more generally the addiction community, stood out as best-of-breed”.

Constance Pechura, Ph.D., TRI Executive Director, applauded the potential of the alliance to propel dissemination of science-based information, particularly to parents. “TRI conducts some of the best addiction research in the nation and is committed to increasing the impact of our findings by communicating them as broadly as possible. Unyos understands how to use modern technology to rapidly disseminate targeted information,” Pechura said. “The TRI/Unyos collaboration has the potential to extend the reach of our discoveries to the very people who need but otherwise might not get them,” she said.

As part of the alliance, Unyos will bundle its secure collaboration platform with TRI-reviewed content to establish a single web destination helping parents and other individuals and organizations create a defensive and protective strategy against unacceptable drug content from the Internet. Their new web site will include a mixture of information, how-to tips, and downloadable software, and is designed to become the leading destination for help in managing damaging Internet content.

For more information, contact Mr. Larry Jones at Unyos at ljones@unyos.com or 1-301-641-8334, or Bonnie Catone, TRI Director of Communications, at bcatone@tresearch.org.

— Source: Email from the Treatment Research Institute (TRI) –

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles makes a daily effort to find treatment news articles that we can share with our readers in the alcohol and drug treatment community. The external content was found among other articles of equal informational and educational quality.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County and Orange County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, and in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley.