Wednesday, October 2, 2019; Deming, NM: After a short hiatus, the Deming Police Department is again accepting medications for disposal at no cost at their MedReturn unit, a green kiosk located in their office’s lobby at 700 East Pine Street.
According to Deming Police Chief Alex Valdespino the MedReturn kiosk “takes medications not in use off of the streets and keeps them out of landfills and the water supply.”
The medication disposal service is available at for free and completely anonymous for the community during regular police department hours: Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.
Left in homes, unused and expired medications contribute to an epidemic of substance abuse and accidental poisonings. When flushed down toilets or thrown into landfills, unused medicines become hazardous waste that pollutes the environment and water supply.
“We prefer people use our MedReturn,” said Chief Valdespino, “than throwing medications away in the trash, where people might get ahold of them.”
And those medications can fall into the wrong hands.
In Luna County, 18 percent of High School students reported using a prescription pain killer without prescription, which is slightly higher than the New Mexico average of 16 percent according to the 2017 Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey. The self-reporting survey measures the healthy, and not-so-healthy, behaviors of high school and middle school students across the nation.
Of more concern, prescription drugs were a contributing factor in about half of Luna County’s drug overdose deaths from 2013 to 2017, according to the New Mexico Substance Use Epidemiology Profile for 2018.
The MedReturn disposal kiosk removes any chance of future misuse or chance of pollution since the medications are destroyed using U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) protocols.
Chief Valdespino urges residents to clean out their medicine cabinets of expired and unused medications for safety, “especially for the grandparents with grandchildren in residence as the grandchildren might get into the medications.”
The Deming Police Department is currently coordinating with the DEA to host a National Drug Take Back Day in Luna County, tentatively scheduled for Saturday, October 26, 2019.
For the time being Luna County residents can dispose of the following items at the MedReturn kiosk: prescription drugs, prescription patches, prescription medications, prescription ointments, over-the-counter medications, vitamins, samples, and medications for pets.
The MedReturn kiosk doesn’t accept needles/sharps, inhalers, liquids, hydrogen peroxide, aerosol cans or medical waste. Sharps and needles can be disposed of at the Luna County Public Health Office, located at 215 S. Silver Ave. in Deming.
For liquid medications disposal Chief Valdespino says to residents request a disposal bag from the clerk at his office’s front desk or to contact John Costilla-Gonzalez, program specialist for the Luna County Health Council’s Substance Abuse Prevention Subcommittee, for a free disposal bag at (575) 597-0038.
Costilla-Gonzalez said, “Here in Luna County, we take care of our elders and family when illness and injury strikes. After that care is no longer needed, the family is often stuck with potent medications that are no longer needed. This service that the Deming Police Department offers allows families to get those medications out of the house. This shows the commitment and dedication to the community that our Police Department has.”
This new release was made possible by the Center for Health Innovation, which administers the New Mexico Office of Substance Abuse Prevention grant for Luna County.
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