A week of action aims to raise awareness among Berliners about the responsible use of medication (symbolic image) Photo: picture alliance | dpa, Jan Woitas
From BZ/dpa
In the fight against often unnoticed drug addiction, a week of action begins in Berlin on Saturday. The aim is to raise awareness among Berliners and specialists about the responsible use of medication, as the Berlin Office for Addiction Prevention and the Senate Department for Science, Health and Care announced on Thursday.
This year, physiotherapists and occupational therapists in particular should be addressed, as they treat many pain patients. They could give people impulses to rethink their drug consumption. “For various reasons, many people with drug addiction are not even aware of the addictive potential of their medication,” it said.
According to the announcement, the experts believe that warning labels on packages of medications with such potential are necessary. Long information leaflets are often not read or are incomprehensible.
It is the 4th Berlin week of action against medication abuse. Behind this is the Berlin Initiative Against Drug Abuse network. Previous campaigns were aimed at pharmacies and general practitioners, for example.
According to estimates by the German Center for Addiction Issues, 1.5 to 1.9 million people nationwide are addicted to medication, two thirds of whom are women. Mostly it’s about sleeping pills and sedatives. Women generally integrated consumption unobtrusively into their everyday lives, according to a brochure on the subject.
There are contact points on the subject in the districts where those affected, but also their relatives, can get free advice.