Prescription drug take back event set for Aug. 3

COSHOCTON – Friday, Aug. 3, the Coshocton County Drug Free Coalition and the Coshocton County Sheriff’s office will hold a Prescription Drug Take Back Event in front of the United Way Office located at 402 Main Street. They will be accepting prescription or over the counter medications from 5 to 7 p.m. Unfortunately, at this event we cannot accept sharps or liquid medications. There is no cost for disposing of the medications and there will be no questions asked about the medication being brought to the event for disposal.

The coalition is hosting this event to help highlight the importance of safe disposal for prescription drugs. It also is a kick off for the Coshocton County Drug Free Coalition’s safe prescription drug disposal campaign. The coalition also will start distributing magnets and stickers in the county to highlight the locations that are available locally for medication disposal.

If you cannot make it to the event there are two locations locally where people can bring their prescription or over the counter medications for disposal. These prescription drug drop boxes are located in the lobby area at the Coshocton County Sheriff’s Department located at 328 Chestnut St, Coshocton, OH 43812 and the West Lafayette Police Department 116 N Kirk St, West Lafayette, OH 43845. The drop boxes cannot accept liquids or needles or sharps, only pills or patches. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. By safely disposing of unused prescription people can help to prevent prescription theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows year after year that the majority of misused and abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including someone else’s medication being stolen from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.

For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs, go to www.DEATakeBack.com.

Category: People & Places