Limiting Access to Prescription Drugs: Proper storage of current medications and proper disposal of unused medications is a crucial step in suicide prevention.

According to the CDC, 81% of intentional poisoning suicides were caused by drugs – both legal and illegal. The most commonly used drugs identified in drug-related suicides were psychoactive drugs, such as sedatives and antidepressants, followed by opiates and prescription pain medications. Self-harm poisoning was the leading cause of emergency department visits for intentional injury in 2012.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) 47,600 people died from overdoses involving prescription or illicit opioids in 2017. But the opioid overdose epidemic is not limited to people with opioid addiction who accidentally take too much of a pain reliever or unknowingly inject a tainted heroin product. Concealed in the alarming number of overdose deaths is a significant number of people who have decided to take their own life.

Opiates (including heroin and prescription painkillers) were present in 20 percent of suicide deaths, marijuana in 10.2 percent, cocaine in 4.6 percent, and amphetamines in 3.4 percent (CDC, 2014b). Proper storage and disposal of medications helps keep these potentially lethal substances from falling into the hands of individuals at heightened risk for suicide.