A few years ago, the Blytheville Rotary Club provided a drug take-back box at the Blytheville Police Department in hopes of keeping some unused prescription drugs out of the wrong hands.
Since last year, local citizens have disposed of 432 pounds of unused medication at the drug take-back box at the BPD, according to Police Chief Ross Thompson.
That's 432 pounds of dangerous medicine kept away from small children, teenagers and those the pills weren't prescribed to by the doctor. Unintended use of prescription drugs is a serious problem, not only here, but nationally.
In fact, there is a program in place to keep unused prescriptions off the streets and out of the bodies they could harm.
The National Drug Take-Back Day was held Saturday, as law enforcement officials encouraged those all across the nation to bring their old medications to designated drop-off boxes. The one-day event provided residents with no cost, anonymous collection of unwanted and expired medicines. Each year, the event serves as a great way to bring attention to the issue.
Local residents can actually dispose of their medications at any time. The drop-off box at the Blytheville Police Department is available to the public 24 hours a day.
Though no data is available yet from Saturday's event, typically the drug take-back days are pretty successful.
Since the first National Take Back Day in September of 2010, the DEA has collected more than 4.1 million pounds (over 2,100 tons) of prescription drugs throughout all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several U.S. territories.
According to the DEA website, unused medications in homes create a public health and safety concern, because they can be accidentally ingested, stolen, misused, and abused.
"While the number of Americans who currently abuse prescription drugs dropped in 2013 to 6.5 million from 6.8 million in 2012, that is still more than double the number of those using heroin, cocaine, and hallucinogens like LSD and Ecstasy combined, according to the 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health," the site says. "In addition, 22,134 Americans died in 2011 from overdoses of prescription medications, including 16,651 from narcotic painkillers, says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey of users cited above also found that the majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet."
A study shows more than four in 10 teens (42 percent) who have misused or abused a prescription drugs obtained it from their parent's medicine cabinet.
As a father of a teenager, that's a sobering statistic.
Experts say one shouldn't flush medications down the toilet or the sink because it could affect the water system. Crushing the pills and putting them in the trash can be dangerous as well, they warn. Scientists say the drugs retain their biological and chemical activity and can still get into the environment.
The safest way to dispose of unused medications is by dropping them off at a designated location, i.e. the Blytheville Police Department.
It's easy to do and could keep someone out of harm's way.
mbrasfield@blythevillecourier.com