COLUMBUS – As Ohio political leaders and law enforcement agencies struggles to get control of a raging opioid abuse crisis in the state, local police, pharmacies and health officials are hoping to cut into the latent supply of dangerous drugs by taking them off the hands of those who are longer using them.
“Since 2003, Franklin County has seen a 343% increase in opioid related overdoses, and the majority of misused prescription painkillers are received for free from a friend or family member,” Columbus Public Health Commissioner Dr. Teresa Long said.
National Prescription Drug Take Back Day:
Columbus Public Health, the Columbus Division of Police and SWACO collect unwanted, unneeded and expired medications for safe disposal. The drive-thru event will be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m., Saturday, April 29, at Columbus Public Health, 240 Parsons Ave. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. (NOTE: The Drug Enforcement Administration cannot accept liquids or needles or sharps, only pills or patches.)
Saturday’s National Prescription Drug Take Back Day give the public a chance to rid their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs by bringing them to a participating law enforcement agency, Kroger store or the Columbus Health Department.
National data verifies that around 80 percent of heroin users began their journey toward addiction by first misusing prescription pain killers and more than half of people who misused prescription painkillers received them from a friend or relative for free, and 22 percent got them from a doctor, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and that meant that 73 percent of those prescription pain killers likely came from a medicine cabinet.
During 12 previous Take Back events in the last seven years, the DEA and its partners have taken in over 7.1 million pounds of pills. Last October, Americans turned in 366 tons of prescription drugs at almost 5,200 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,000 of its state and local law enforcement agencies.
Columbus Public Health collected more than 450 pounds of medicine for safe disposal, during the last two local drug drop-off events, Long said.