About Us
The National Coalition Against Prescription Drug Abuse (NCAPDA) is an organization that was established to generate nationwide awareness about the dangers of prescription drug misuse and abuse.
The origin of NCAPDA began with the tragic loss of April and Joseph Rovero's youngest son, Joseph John Rovero, III (Joey), from a lethal combination of alcohol and misused prescription medication. Joey died on December 18, 2009 while attending Arizona State University, just one day before he was due to return home for Winter Break.
Since Joey's death, April has learned that prescription drug abuse has become a nationwide epidemic. NCAPDA was founded in March, 2010 and the organization has been partnering since with schools, colleges, community organizations and medical, law enforcement and other agencies to increase awareness about the dangers of prescription drug abuse. Additionally, NCAPDA has been involved in supporting current legislative action related to curbing prescription drug abuse.
April Rovero is joined by Greg Van Ess, who lost his son Alexander H. Van Ess (Alec) on January 11, 2009, from abuse of prescription drugs. Alec was 21, and attending college in Georgia.
Board members and advisors of NCAPDA include experts such Dr. Richard Gracer, who has been in practice for over 30 years and is certified in Addiction Medicine by the American Society of Addiction Medicine and Paul Lewis, a clinically educated Marriage and Family Therapist, in practice for over 20 years.
NCAPDA has partnered with several longstanding organizations to help achieve the goal of awareness, including Discovery Counseling Center, Teen Esteem, CASA, and The Bacchus Network. NCAPDA is also working closely with Arizona State University administrators and students to establish model programs that can be used to educated college students throughout the country about the dangers of prescription drug abuse.
