<p>My DD takes several prescription medications. What is the best way to "secure" the medication - one of her meds is for controlling anxiety, and I think some students may want to "borrow" some? </p>
<p>The simplest thing is to put the medications and any other valuables in a locked drawer if her room has one. Otherwise, buy a small fire safe at Home Depot and use that. And she should always lock her door when she is leaving her room and insist that her roommate do the same. At my D’s school, the most commonly stolen items are bikes.</p>
<p>^^^this seems a bit extreme to me (the safe thing). If she is private about it, doesnt tell people what she is taking and takes them in private no one will know about it. </p>
<p>Unless its xanax i doubt they would be interested in them anyway. </p>
<p>Most dorm room desks have a lockable drawer. You may want to check with her school. I would highly advise locking up her meds. You never know when a friend of a friend might decide to swipe them and you won’t want her to have to go through the hassle of getting them refilled off schedule.</p>
<p>DS has ADHD & anxiety issues. He takes Adderall along with other meds. From what I’ve heard theft of Adderall is very common on college campuses. He did a pre-college program last summer and lived in a dorm for 2 weeks. We got him a safe that was locked to his bed frame and pushed under his bed when he wasn’t in the room. He made a point of taking his meds when his roommate was either not in the room or asleep. Seemed to work out just fine. </p>
<p>I’m more apt to take the approach mitchklong suggests. Older d has had muscle relaxers and narcotic pain killers due to athletic injury and surgery. Don’t announce it. Keep it out of sight, and things should be fine. Locking the door when no one is in the room (or at night when inhabitants are sleeping) is a good idea anywhere. </p>
<p>Each of my kids had a “dorm vault” which is a little safe which you can attach to a leg of a bed or desk. They were attached in hidden places. They could keep meds, money, passport, even valuable tickets there. Perhaps the med bottles could be in there and only a week’s supply kept in a more handy location. If you google dorm vault you can see pictures. The ones we had were little cubes. </p>
<p>Mine also had a dorm vault cube, which worked perfectly well. He did decide that the locked desk drawer (part of the dorm room) was acceptable and used it as a convenience. Remember, you aren’t just worried about theft, it’s a question of unintentional damage, destruction, etc… Dorm rooms are about 200% more chaotic than we imagine as parents :)</p>
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<p>Extreme until your discrete child finds their meds stolen and you get to pay full price for replacements because insurance would pay for refill “before it is time”. Stolen narcotics are one of the highest theft times in college today. </p>
<p>When my daughter went to school after missing a semester due to herniated discs in her back, she was on heavy duty pain meds, muscle relaxers, and an anti anxiety just to keep her relaxed, and not tense which caused her much pain. Knowing the situation , the university chose to give her a single, so limited people would have access to the dorm room and her meds. </p>
<p>I also agree with the small safe that can be secured. Credit cards, passports, medications and valuables can be placed in the safe. A small medication container, (ex. plastic 1 week dose) can be placed out of sight and student should not discuss medication with others.</p>
<p>I would absolutely get a small safe, and I would add that a combination lock is probably better than a key as long as the combination is not written down anywhere. Use mom’s birthday or something hallmates can’t guess.</p>
<p>Theft is distressingly common in dorms, including at universities with ironclad honor codes. Next to piles of cash, there’s nothing more tempting than prescription meds.</p>
<p>Ib5 and Greenbutton, I looked at the Dorm Vault and I think it is perfect. I will advise her to keep a week’s supply handy (hidden or locked in a desk) and keep the rest in the locked cube. Thanks, I don’t think I would have found out about this without the help of this forum.</p>
<p>Hadn’t even thought about this - but it’s something I’ll add to my kid’s college supplies. It’s just not worth the risk of having passport, money, med’s, or whatever disappear with lots of people coming in and out of a shared room.</p>
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And if, god forbid, something terrible happened to someone else as a result of taking D’s drugs, paying for a refill would be the least of your worries.</p>
<p>I have to admit I never worried about either Ds meds, & one of them was
Xanax.
She never needed to get refills earlier & since she didnt have a car, I was more concerned about her going too long between refills.</p>
<p>My daughter has Xanax at school - I think you’d actually be surprised by the number of kids that have meds at school. She’s just been discrete, and hasn’t had an issue. That said, she’s at a small LAC and not a big State school.</p>