Monday, April 22, 2019; Silver City, NM: On Saturday (April 27,2019) from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the Silver City Police Department and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will give the public an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
Bring your pills for disposal to the Silver City Walmart Super Center located at 2501 Highway 180 East. (Sites cannot accept liquids or needles or sharps, only pills or patches.)
Click here for a map of Drug Take Back Day locations in southern New Mexico.
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.
“Most drug ingredients are deluded by water, and most treatment plants aren’t designed to remove those compounds,” said Manny Orosco, Supervisor of Town of Silver City Water Treatment Plant. “The prescription drugs also hurt the bacteria that we grow in the plant for our treatment process.”
“The treated waters could enter active rivers and, with diluted prescription drugs in the waters, it mixes up the reproduction of fish and kills plant life,” warns Orosco.
Last year, in the journal of Environmental Pollution, published a study found fish with blood concentrations of medications that would be high enough to treat a human, including antibiotics, anti-depressants, cholesterol and blood pressure medications. Another study discovered the opioid, oxycodone, in oysters at Washington’s Puget Sound.
Orosco urges residents that it is “better to use medication disposal sites for safety.”
Besides National Drug Take Back Days, held annually in April and October, Grant County residents have medication disposal available throughout the year at the green MedReturn kiosks located inside the Bayard Public Safety Building, 801 Central Ave., and in Silver City at 1106 N. Pope St., across the street from the Hidalgo Medical Services’ Silver City Community Health Center.
Also, medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Survey on Drug Use and Health shows year after year that the majority of misused and abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including someone else’s medication being stolen from the home medicine cabinet.
Almost 15 percent of male Grant County High School students reported using painkillers to “get high” on the most recent Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS), which is a national self-reported survey of healthy and not-so-healthy behaviors of youth.
Also, 23% of Grant County High School students reported taking a prescription drugs without a prescription on the same survey, which is significantly higher than the New Mexico average of 16%.
“The National Drug Take Back Day allows the community to drop off their expired and unused medications safely knowing that they will be taken out of the community and disposed of properly, further limiting access to the youth especially, but also to our community in whole,” said Corina Castillo, program specialist of the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition which purchased and coordinated the instillation of the MedReturns medication disposal kiosks available in the county.
National Drug Take Back Day is made possible by the Silver City Police Department, Silver City WalMart Super Center, Grant County DWI Program, New Mexico Department of Health and the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Grant County.
For more information about the disposal of prescription drugs or about Saturday’s Drug Take Back Day event, go to www.DEATakeBack.com or Corina Castillo at (575) 597-0025 or email: ccastillo@swchi.org.
This news release is made available by the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Grant County, a program of the Center for Health Innovation, and funded by the New Mexico Office of Substance Abuse Prevention (OSAP).
About the Center for Health Innovation (GENERAL ORGANIZATIONAL INFORMATION)
The Center for Health Innovation (CHI) is designated New Mexico’s Public Health Institute and is a nonprofit focused on bettering community health in underserved and underrepresented populations. CHI empowers groups and individuals at a local, state and national level to determine the future wellbeing of their communities through the development and implementation of innovative policies, strategies and evidence-based models. Founded in 2015, CHI is headquartered in Silver City, with additional offices located throughout New Mexico. For more information, visit www.swchi.org.
About the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (GENERAL PROGRAM INFORMATION)
Founded in 2013, the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (YSAPC) of Grant County works tirelessly to curb youth access to alcohol, opioids and tobacco through initiating social projects and guiding public and school policy for greatest impact. The Coalition is composed of representatives from 12 county sectors to have the greatest impact possible with funding provided by the New Mexico Office of Substance Abuse Prevention. For more information, visit http://swchi.org/youth-substance-abuse-prevention-coalition-of-grant-county/
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