Medicines are not ordinary products to be taken lightly. This is the message that the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) intends to convey in its new information campaign, recalling that drugs are not like a drill: it does not lend itself between neighbors!
Certainly, drugs are made to heal. But misused, they can still represent a risk, as for this young woman who died of paracetamol poisoning a few years ago, a drug that we (wrongly) think harmless.
This is why the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) is launching a new information and awareness campaign to promote the proper use of medicines.
1 in 5 people take higher doses than prescribed
“According to a recent survey carried out by the Agency, with a panel of French people, we noticed that nearly one in two French people give medicine to a loved one because they have the same symptoms as them, and that it’s even 1 in 10 who do it systematically or often” underlines the ANSM. “However, drugs are prescribed or recommended for one person and may prove useless or dangerous for another”.
This same investigation revealed that:
- 3 out of 10 people adapt, on their own, the dose or the duration of the drugs prescribed to them.
- 1 in 5 people take higher doses or take more than one medication at the same time to relieve symptoms faster.
- 1 in 3 people consider it fairly safe or not at all risky to take an expired medicine.
“Dose, frequency, duration of treatment, time between doses, nothing has been determined at random” insists the ANSM, which even launches its website (lesmedicamentsetmoi) to remind people of the proper use of the drug.
“Failure to follow the instructions of a healthcare professional may reduce the effectiveness of medications or cause adverse effects. In addition, medications taken together without the advice of a healthcare professional may interact and have serious consequences. for health” insists the ANSM in its campaign, recalling with humor that “drugs are not like a drill, it does not lend itself between neighbors”. Or “that a mummy can be kept forever, but not the drugs”.