MONDAY, May 16, 2016 (HealthDay News) — When children are prescribed opioid painkillers, such as Oxycontin or Percocet, for surgery or illness, about half of parents say they keep the leftover medicine on hand.

“We found that the amount of pain medication prescribed for children is frequently greater than the amount used, and too few parents recall clear direction from their provider about what to do with leftover medication,” said Sarah Clark, co-director of the C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health.

“This is a missed opportunity to prevent prescription drug misuse among children,” Clark added in a statement from the University of Michigan Health System. “Many parents simply keep extra pain pills in their home. Those leftover pills represent easy access to narcotics for teens and their friends.”

According to the poll results, about a third of parents said their kids had received pain medication prescriptions, mostly for narcotic drugs such as oxycodone (Oxycontin, Percocet) or hydrocodone.

[su_button url=”https://consumer.healthday.com/general-health-information-16/prescription-drug-news-551/parents-often-don-t-get-rid-of-leftover-prescription-opioids-710959.html” target=”blank” style=”flat” background=”#0a3853″ center=”yes” icon=”icon: adjust” icon_color=”#ffffff” desc=”Parents Often Don’t Get Rid of Leftover Prescription Opioids”]Click to read more[/su_button]