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National Prescription Drug Take Back Day will be Saturday, April 27, and the Jackson County Substance Awareness Committee is urging the public to help take their expired, unused and unwanted prescription medications to the Sheriff’s Department that day. By doing this, it will help prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding homes of potentially dangerous drugs. There is a receptical for the drugs located in the lobby of the Jackson County Sheriff’s Department, 600 S Main in Altus. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. (If you can’t make it on April 27, you can drop off medications there any time.)

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. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including 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.

To date, the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics has destroyed 193.6 pounds of prescription drugs from Jackson County. While we consider spring cleaning, let’s think about our medicine cabinet.

If you would like more information pertaining to the Jackson County Substance Awareness Committee efforts, contact Brooke McCuiston at the Wichita Mountains Prevention Network – Region 11 RPC at (580) 355-5246.