FRANKFORT, Ky. (Legal Newsline) -- Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway on Wednesday called on national retailer Urban Outfitters to stop selling flasks, shot glasses and pint glasses that look like prescription pill bottles.
Urban Outfitters is a popular retail store with teens.
A recent national survey conducted by the Partnership at Drugfree.org finds that one in four teens has misused or abused a prescription drug at least once in their lifetime. Twenty percent of teens who admitted the abuse did so before the age of 14.
Prescription drugs are the leading cause of accidental death in the United States.
"These products make light of an epidemic that kills more than 1,000 Kentuckians each year and is responsible for more deaths than heroin and cocaine combined," Conway said in a statement. "Combined with alcohol, the misuse and abuse of prescription medications can be deadly, making the Urban Outfitter Rx pint and shot glasses and flasks even more disturbing."
The national survey found that more than a quarter of teens mistakenly think that prescription drug abuse is safer than the use of street drugs.
"Tongue-in-cheek products that normalize and promote prescription drug abuse only serve to reinforce the misperception about the dangers associated with abusing prescription medications," Conway said. "This type of cavalier attitude puts more teens at risk. I hope you will join me in asking Urban Outfitters to remove these products from their store shelves and website immediately."
Conway is the co-chair of the substance abuse committee of the National Association of Attorneys General.
His statewide Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Task Force has been involved in more than 430 prescription drug diversion inquiries since August 2009. Through his office's efforts, Kentucky recently fell below the national average for prescription drug abuse for the first time.