Most youth prescription drug abuse starts at the home, with children accessing their parents' medicine. In some cases, adults have unknowingly developed addictions to prescription medication like Xanax and Valium because of improper management.

Keeping track of your prescription medicine with the Home Medicine Inventory Card, or HMIC, is a fast and easy way to prevent these occurences. It helps you stay on track, monitors your intake behavior and makes your home safe from accidental consumption or theft in 5 easy steps.

Step 1 - Get Prescription Medicine and Check for Expiration

First things first, get all your prescription drugs and over the counter medicine organized in one spot and review them all for expiration dates. Safely discard the expired medicine and move on to Step 2.

Step 2 - Write Your Prescription Medicine on HMIC

Write your existing medication names into the HMIC sheet - 1 per line. We suggest you organize your medicine into two categories: prescription and over-the-counter and write them down on the HMIC.

Step 3 - Count and Fill in Total Quantity on HMIC

Now that you have written the names of all the meds on the HMIC open each bottle/case and count how many pills are available. Write in the appropriate number of pills next to each medicine name on the sheet. (Note: It is important that you scratch off the quantity and write the new total everytime you review your HMIC monthly as described in Step 5.)

Step 4 - Write Down the Date

Now that you have written down all the medication and quantities in the HMIC sheet go to the bottom section titled "Date of Review" and put in today's date. That's it! You've setup you first HMIC. Next, put it somewhere you'll remember, as you will need it later.

Step 5 - Repeat Every Month

After about a month, pull out your HMIC sheet and take inventory of your meds again. Scratch off the quantities you had before and put in the new total. Write in the date under the first entry on the 'Date of Review' section. Review the med use on the prescription bottles to ensure you have not been taking the improper dosages. If you notice a discrepancy you may be improperly using the medicine or someone in the household may have accessed your medication. Assuming all is accurate, put your meds and the sheet away to review in another month's time.

Conclusion

Proper use and tracking of your prescription drugs is a serious matter as many households can be a place where younger children illegally get access to meds. Using the HMIC will keep you and your children safe. Now that you know how to use the Home Medicine Inventory Card, go ahead and share it with your friends by 'Sharing' or 'Tweeting' it using the social media buttons above the article.

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