CVS Offers Drop Boxes to Law Enforcement

CCVS is giving law enforcement Prescription Drug lock-boxes (usually about $900 each) completely free; the application is HERE: http://www.cvs.com/content/safer-communities. They are doing this because the DEA has ceased their involvement in local Prescription Drug Take-Back events—they ran the events for something like 11 years. Now, it is up to local law enforcement (and local citizens) to pick up the slack and set up systems to collect and properly dispose of unused Prescription Drugs.

Proper disposal is NOT flushing them down the toilet! That action will potentially impact our community’s water supply. Instead, the FDA recommends law enforcement incineration as the best option, followed by taking the medicines out of their marked bottles, mixing them with undesirable waste (like used kitty litter), and throwing them in the trash. Both of these methods should help keep dangerous drugs out of the hands of kids and other unintended users.

I certainly plan on doubling-down on law enforcement incineration.

Graphic created by the Seminole Prevention Coalition

Texas has the eighth lowest prescription drug overdose mortality rate in the United States, with 9.6 deaths per 100,000 people, but that rate is up 78% since 1999, when the rate was 5.4 deaths per 100,000. The CDC calls Prescription Drug abuse the “fastest growing drug problem in the United States”—Personally, I know of three elderly people who have had acquaintances (or strangers, in one of the three cases) ask to use their restrooms, and then steal prescription pain killers (and jewelry) during the visit.

Please spread the word to any law enforcement you know so they can take advantage of CVS’ generosity.

Final DEA-Sponsored Take-back Event is TOMORROW

Tomorrow is the DEA's ninth (and final) drug-take-back day. Tyler Police will collect your leftover prescriptions at the CVS on Broadway and 5th from 10 am to 2 pm. UT Tyler's Police will also operate a box at the campus police station on Varsity Drive.

Common methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards. Prescription drugs should be taken to a local police station or pharmacy to be properly disposed of.

Prescription drugs pose a serious problem; In 2012, 6.8 million American reported abusing prescription drugs (National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 2013), and drug overdoses kill more Americans than firearms or motor vehicle accidents. Prescription drug abuse is the second most prevalent illicit drug problem in the U.S.  The survey also reveals that more than 13 million people, aged 12 or older, are current non-medical users of prescription drugs.