BREAKING NEWS: Urban Outfitters pulls prescription mugs

Just over a month ago, we learned that Urban Outfitters, the national retail store popular with teens, was selling pint glasses, flasks and shot glasses made to look like prescription pill bottles. These products made light of prescription drug misuse and abuse, a dangerous behavior responsible for more deaths in the United States each year than heroin and cocaine combined.

The Partnership launched an advocacy effort and petition to ask the company to remove these products from their stores and website, securing more than 4,700 signatures of support.

It was reported today that Urban Outfitters has halted sale of these products. The retailer shared this statement with CNN:  "In this extensive range of product we recognize that from time to time there may be individual items that are misinterpreted by people who are not our customer. As a result of this misinterpretation we are electing to discontinue these few styles from our current product offering."

We thank Urban Outfitters for listening to the calls, emails and letters of parents and families, health care providers, community and government leaders, and for pulling these products from their stores.

Our efforts don’t end here. Take the Pledge today to #endmedicineabuse. 

news story courtesy of The Partnership at Drugfree.org 

UPDATE: Stop Urban Outfitters From Selling Products that Promote Prescription Drug Abuse

Photo Credit: Drugfree.org

Thanks to you, we are gaining momentum to put a stop to Urban Outfitters selling products made to look like prescription pill bottles!

U.S. Congressman Hal Rogers (KY) has sent a letter directly to Richard A. Hayne, CEO and Chairman of Urban Outfitters, encouraging him to “remove these items from the shelves immediately so as not to contribute to this epidemic” [of prescription drug abuse].

Along with Rogers, Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, who co-chairs the Substance Abuse Committee of the National Association of Attorneys General, has joined the effort.

In just the past few days, various media outlets have brought this to the public’s attention, including ABC News, Associated Press, The Huffington Post, News 4 WOAI (thanks to our alliance with The San Antonio Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse), UPI and more!

We’re not done, because we still haven’t received a response from Urban Outfitters.

Please take the time to tweet your plea. Here are some sample tweets:

Join me in stopping @UrbanOutfitters from selling products that promote teen Rx drug abuse. http://ow.ly/kQbJm #endmedicineabuse

Help stop @UrbanOutfitters from selling products that promote teen Rx abuse. http://ow.ly/kQbJm #endmedicineabuse

If you can’t tweet, we encourage you to invite your family, friends and colleagues to sign and share the Facebook Causes Petition today.
 

Article courtesy of The Partnership at Drugfree.org 

Help Us Stop Urban Outfitters from Selling Product Promoting RX Drugs Abuse

Photo Credit: Urban Outfitters

 

UrbanOutfitters can't stay out of trouble.

 

The latest controversy brewing in connection to the popular retailer is over "prescription"shot glasses and other medical-themed drinking paraphernalia. Urban Outfitters is currently peddling shot glasses, flasks and beer koozies designed to resemble prescription pill bottles, as well as "Syringe ShotShooters" (so you can squirt alcohol into your mouth instead of just drinking it).

 

Tongue-in-cheek products that normalize and promote prescription drug abuse only serve to reinforce the misperception about the dangers associated with abusing medicine and put more teens at risk.

 

Ask Urban Outfitters to remove these products from their stores and website immediately. Feel free to use the information above to help make your point.

 

CONTACT INFORMATION FOR Urban Outfitters:

Send an e-mail to:

Richard A. Hayne; CEO & Chairman
richard.hayne@urbanout.com

 

Write a letter:

Urban Outfitters, Inc.
5000 South Broad St
Philadelphia, PA 19112-1495

 

Sign this Facebook Causes petition:

http://www.causes.com/actions/1749784-stop-urban-outfitters-from-selling-products-that-promote-prescription-drug-abuse

 

When you take action, reply to this e-mail to let us know, share a comment on the blog post – and please forward this message to a friend or colleague.

 

annoucement courtesy of The Partnership at Drugfree.org