Photo By Lt. Col. Geoff Legler | Unused prescription medication is dumped into a collection bin during the National...... read more read more
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OKLAHOMA CITY –The use of opioids as recreational drugs has risen to the level of an epidemic in the United States. Abusers of these lethal narcotics get their drugs of choice from many places, to include the family medicine cabinet.
Each year, in an effort to get harmful prescription drugs out of the reach of children and other potential abusers, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) hosts the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. To aid in this effort, the Oklahoma National Guard’s Counter Drug Office operated three drug take back booths in the Oklahoma City metro on April 28.
Over the past few years, the Drug Take Back Day has proven itself to be an effective way to remove opioids and other medicines from our homes, where they can be stolen and abused by guests or family members. According to the DEA’s Drug Take Back Day website, this year there were 5,842 collection sites located across the nation, which collected 949,046 lbs. of prescription drugs.
“This is a fight that must be fought on many different levels,” said 1st Lt. Kent Turner, a member of the Oklahoma National Guard’s Take Back Day team. “We can’t solely rely on interdiction. Educating the public and removing these medications from households across Oklahoma prevents misuse before it even starts.”
Many teens and young adults believe prescription drugs are safer than illicit drugs, but in reality, they are just a deadly and habit forming as heroin and cocaine. Recent studies have shown that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.
This year, working in partnership with the Coalition Against RX drug Epidemic (C.A.Rx.E) and Gateway Coalition in Shawnee, Oklahoma’s Counter Drug Office collected a total 1,202 pounds of prescription drugs, which were transported to Tulsa, Oklahoma for proper disposal.
| Date Taken: | 05.30.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 07.05.2018 08:09 |
| Story ID: | 278772 |
| Location: | OKLAHOMA CITY, US |
| Web Views: | 26 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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