SAVING OUR KIDS AND RIVERS FROM
DRUGS: OPERATION MEDICINE CABINET HOPES TO BE THE FIRST IN THE STATE OF NORTH
CAROLINA TO COLLECT ONE MILLION PILLS
SAVING OUR KIDS AND RIVERS FROM
DRUGS: OPERATION MEDICINE CABINET HOPES TO BE THE FIRST IN THE STATE OF NORTH
CAROLINA TO COLLECT ONE MILLION PILLS
Watauga County, NC- Do you have
outdated or unused prescription drugs, over the counter medications, syringes
or other medical supplies? Come drop them off at the sponsored take-back
centers on Saturday October 27, 2012 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Take-back locations will be available at
the Foscoe Fire Department, Beaverdam Fire Department and the three Food Lion
stores in Watauga County: the Highway 321 store in Boone, the Highway 421 Deep
Gap store, and the Blowing Rock store. It is an amnesty day, so no questions
will be asked.
Three years ago, on Oct. 3, 2009, a
broad coalition of community partners came together to create the first ever
prescription drug take-back day in the High Country. Since that first
event two years ago, a total of six “Operation Medicine Cabinet” events have
been held every May and October as part of the Watauga County household
hazardous waste day. Here are the
number of pills collected since the event began:
|
Date
|
Pills
collected
|
|
October 2009
|
40,000
|
|
May 2010
|
188,000
|
|
October 2010
|
350,000
|
|
May 2011
|
87,285
|
|
October 2011
|
88,000
|
|
May 2012
|
153,778
|
|
Total
|
907,063
|
Thanks to broad support by community members across the region,
the High Country has collected a total of 907,063 pills since 2009. That makes our group the best in the state. Our community
outperformed Raleigh, Charlotte and Asheville even though they are much larger
communities.
In
2010, our local Operation Medicine Cabinet was recognized as a model program
and adopted by other community groups across North Carolina. In 2011, more than
forty drug take back events were held across the state. This year, the High
Country group wants to continue leading the state by being the first group to collect more than million pills. We need to collect 93, 000 pill on
Saturday to reach our goal.
The disposal of prescription drugs
has long been a dilemma, and many medicine cabinets
contain unused or outdated medications. Among teenagers, the fastest growing illegal
drug use is the abuse of prescription drugs. The most common method of
obtaining prescription drugs is by raiding the medicine cabinet of a friend or
family, then consuming the pills or selling them.
“From a law enforcement perspective,
one of our most important jobs is to work diligently and proactively to prevent
drug abuse,” said Watauga County Sheriff Len D. Hagaman. “By hosting an amnesty
day that allows the public to turn in any kind of unused or unwanted
medications, hopefully, we will keep those drugs off the street and out of the
hands of children.”
Another problem with outdated or
unused prescription drugs is that people dispose of them improperly by flushing
them down the toilet. If
their home is connected to a local waste water treatment facility, then the
drugs wind up in either the Watauga River or New River where they can negatively
affect aquatic organisms. If the homes have septic tanks, the
drugs leach into the soils and contaminate groundwater that can be taken up by
well pumps.
“A recent investigation by the
Associated Press found a whole host of pharmaceuticals-including antibiotics,
pain medication, anti-depressants, sex hormones, heart and blood pressure
medicine-in the drinking water of
more than 40 million Americans,”[1]
said Donna Lisenby, Watauga Riverkeeper.
“It has been very rewarding to see
how enthusiastically people have united to support Operation Medicine Cabinet,”
said Dick and Joan Hearn of the Watauga River Partners. “We have over 30
community partners, including, Helen M. Clabough Charitable Foundation, MountainKeepers,
the towns and police departments of Beech Mountain, Boone, Blowing Rock and
Seven Devils, the Watauga County Sheriff's Office, the State Bureau of
Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, Safe Kids North Carolina, Boone Drug, Watauga County Recycling/Solid Waste Department,
Watauga Riverkeeper/Western North Carolina Alliance, Food Lion, Appalachian
Voices, Precision Printing, Foscoe and Beaverdam Fire Departments, the Smoky
Mountain Center and Appalachian State University just to name a few,” they
continued.
One of the strongest community
partners that has supported Operation Medicine Cabinet since it began in 2009
has been Boone Drug. They have staffed every event with pharmacy personnel to
assist law enforcement officers to properly identify, count and catalog the
pills collected in accordance with the Drug Enforcement Agency permit
requirements. Carrie Phillips, Marketing Coordinator for the locally owned and
operated business said, “Boone Drug is dedicated to making sure prescription
drugs are handled safely and disposed of properly. We are proud to volunteer our time and support this
community project. We hope everybody will come see us at the collection events
on October 27, 2012 and join us in the community wide effort to be the first county
in North Carolina collect more than one million pills and save our rivers and
kids from drugs.”
To find out more about the event please
visit us online at www.DrugTakeBackDay.com.
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