If you’re guilty of hoarding that old medicine, thinking you may need it for some other ailment later on, think again. Medications do expire, and they are prescribed for specific problems, not as general drugs to cure whatever ails you.
The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 26 is an opportunity to get rid of unused or expired prescription medications. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
For the safety of our Fulton County youth and families, the Archbold, Delta and Wauseon Police Departments in cooperation with the Drug Enforcement Administration, area pharmacies and volunteers from Healthy Choices Caring Communities are giving our community an opportunity to dispose of unwanted medications.
On Saturday, April 26 from 10 am until 2 pm, locations in Archbold, Delta and Wauseon will accept tablets, capsules and all other solid dosage forms of unneeded or expired medication. Intravenous solutions, injectibles and syringes will NOT be accepted at any of these sites.
Participating sites include:
Archbold:
Archbold Police Department
405 E Lutz Road
Delta:
Memorial Hall
401 Main Street
Wauseon:
Rite Aid Pharmacy
1496 N Shoop Avenue
Walmart
485 E Airport Highway
According to Wauseon Police Chief Torbet, “It is important for the safety of our community to get these unused or expired prescriptions out of family medicine cabinets. This will help us keep these prescription drugs off our streets and prevent them from being misused or abused.” Unused or expired prescription medications are a public safety issue, potentially leading to accidental poisoning, overdose, and abuse. The abuse of prescription drugs is now the second leading cause of accidental death and has other unintended consequences, such as increased prevalence of prescription medication abuse and diversion throughout the United States.
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, abuse of prescription drugs to get high has become increasingly prevalent among teens and young adults. Past abuse of prescription pain killers now ranks second—only behind marijuana—as the Nation’s most prevalent illegal drug problem.
The National Drug Take Back Day is an opportunity to clean out your medication cabinet before someone is harmed. So take this opportunity to clean out your medicine cabinets and drop off your unwanted or unused prescriptions for safe disposal.
Healthy Choices Caring Communities, an initiative of the Fulton County Family & Children First Council, is a group of community members working together to prevent and reduce youth use of alcohol and other drugs in Fulton County. To become a member of the HC3, or for more information, contact Beth Thomas, Project Director, at 419-337-0915.