Dispose of your unused prescription meds safely this weekend
But what about your medicine cabinet? Are prescription drugs piling up and making your bathroom a bit disorganized?
Saturday’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day could be a motivating factor: Monongalia County is just one of more than 5,000 locations participating in Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
According to the 2017 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 6 million Americans misused controlled prescription drugs.
The same survey also revealed that a large percentage of those drugs had been acquired from family and friends’ medicine cabinets. Not only does safe disposal avoid drug abuse but it’s also the eco-friendliest way to dispose of unused medication.
Most people resort to throwing their prescription drugs out in the trash. However, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) advises against this and should only be a last resort option. Throwing out prescription drugs in the trash makes it easy for people to come upon and either abuse or illegally sell them. This is especially true now, in West Virginia, which is ground zero for the opioid epidemic that has swept across the nation.
Disposal of drugs by mixing it with coffee grounds, kitty litter or crushing it up still doesn’t avoid the possibility of poisoning or abuse. Garbage disposal of drugs can also lead to dogs, cats and other animals getting sick if they decide to rummage through the trash. Did you know that human medications are the leading cause of pet poisoning?
With drug abuse being one of the leading problems in the country, it’s important to play it safe and simply dispose of them at a take-back program. Monongalia County will have multiple take-back locations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. this Saturday.
Participating will be all three Kroger locations: 350 Patteson Drive, 1851 Earl L. Core Road and 500 Suncrest Towne Centre Drive as well as Pierpont Landing Pharmacy, 7000 Mid-Atlantic Drive; the Village at Heritage Point off J.D. Anderson Drive; Mon Health Medical Center, J.D. Anderson Drive; Monongalia County Sheriff’s Office at 116 Walnut St. and the Morgantown detachment of the West Virginia State Police, 3453 Monongahela Blvd.
And in Monongalia County, we are lucky to have at least two year-round sites where we can dispose of medications: the Morgantown Police Department at 300 Spruce St. and City Hall in Star City at 370 Broadway Ave.
The Morgantown Police Department disposal container is a big red metal box in the office lobby that is accessible 24/7. It was installed with the help of a grant from CVS after officials there got the idea from Star City. The Star City container is accessible from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday when City Hall is open.
While it’s great to have that resource year-round, late April is a great time to get your house in order. And if you have to run to the grocery store, you can multi-task and drop off your unused prescription drugs. So, mark National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on your calendar.