AMERICAN FORK — That half-used bottle of Percocet gathering dust in a medicine cabinet may pose more of a threat than a health benefit, say officials at American Fork Hospital.

"It's becoming such a problem," said Bryan Packer, spokesman for American Fork Hospital. "People steal from grandparents, friends. A lot of it comes down to out of sight, out of mind. (Old drugs) get pushed to the back of the cabinet ... (people) just forget about it."

Hospital officials are using a "Clean Out Your Cabinet " campaign to urge people to properly dispose of expired or unused prescription drugs.

Getting rid of the drugs is an easy way to decrease the availability of habit-forming drugs for people without prescriptions.

"It has come about because of the concern of families locally that have had problems with youth and even adults abusing prescription and non-prescription drugs," Packer said.

Data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health show an average estimate of 14.8 million people have used prescription drugs for nonmedical purposes in the last 12 months.

The combined data from 2002 to 2004 also show that the number of people who misused pain relievers is second only to people who used marijuana, estimated at 25.5 million, according to the September report, compiled by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Often the problem starts with an injury and a prescription for a strong pain killer such as Percocet, OxyContin, Lortab or Percodan.

Once a prescription drug is in the home, it's that much easier for addicted friends, family members or even strangers to get it.

Last week, American Fork police arrested a man who police believe stole OxyContin from his friend. The man broke into his friend's home to steal the drug on a day he knew his friend would be out of town, said American Fork Police Sgt. Shauna Greening.

Since January, Greening said, police have investigated six robberies of prescription medications.

But theft of the drugs isn't the only thing that has hospital officials and law enforcement worried.

In 2006, American Fork Hospital had 100 drug-overdose visits to the emergency room. Emergency-room crews already have had 78 this year.

The region, which includes Orem Community Hospital and Utah Valley Regional Medical Center, saw 310 emergency room visits in 2006 and already has handled 189 drug-overdose visits in 2007.

With such high numbers, cleaning out closets is one quick way to get rid of habit-forming drugs and face the issue of prescription abuse, officials say.

"This (shows) that, yes, it is a (problem)," Packer said.

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