Social media maven joins CHPA’s Five Moms campaign

WASHINGTON — The Consumer Healthcare Products Association on Wednesday announced LeeAnn Weniger-Mandrillo as the newest mom to join its Five Moms campaign — an initiative to raise parental awareness of teen cough medicine abuse. 

 

“The issue of teen medicine abuse is particularly important to me, as I have focused my career on my community activism through work with the Prevention Council of Saratoga County, the New York State PTA, New York Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services and the Paterson Coalition against Substance Abuse,” Weniger-Mandrillo said. “I firmly believe that spreading the word about the dangers of teen medicine abuse can help reduce abuse rates and keep teens safe and healthy. As one of the Five Moms, I am excited to have an additional platform to reach families nationwide and raise awareness of cough medicine abuse.”

 

“We are excited to welcome LeeAnn as the newest member to our Five Moms campaign,” stated Scott Melville, CHPA president and CEO.  “LeeAnn has dedicated her career to working with stakeholders to educate families about the dangers of medicine and substance abuse among teens. We look forward to partnering with her in our effort to reduce teen medicine abuse nationwide.”

 

Weniger-Mandrillo has a young son, James, and raised her nephew Andrew, who is now 23. She resides in Niskayuna, N.Y., and owns and operates a social marketing firm focused on helping non-profits, coalitions, schools and other parent groups create social media and marketing campaigns about drugs, alcohol, mental health and bullying.

 

CHPA, which represents the leading makers of OTC medicines, launched the Five Moms campaign in 2007 with the goal of driving parents to action — to educate themselves on medicine abuse, to talk with their children about the risks of such abuse, to safeguard medicines in their homes and to spread the word to other parents.

 

In 2009, CHPA introduced an educational icon on the packaging of cough medicines containing DXM to alert parents to the potential for abuse and combined Five Moms and all of its efforts to prevent teen cough medicine abuse into one comprehensive website: StopMedicineAbuse.org. This website provides access to all of the industry’s initiatives and interactive programs to engage parents and community leaders in the fight against teen cough medicine abuse.