Politics & Government

Local Officials Band Together to Push Prescription Drug Disposal

Sheriff Anthony Wickersham, Congresswoman Candice Miller and Health Department Official Gary White are promoting the proper disposal of prescription medication to ensure public safety.

Last year, 121 tons of unused prescription drugs were collected at disposal sites across the country. This year, the , Macomb County Health Department and Office of Congresswoman Candice Miller are taking the lead to see that such efforts continue on a local scale.

“We want to get the public’s attention on a problem that’s concerning all the residents, not just of Macomb County, but the State of Michigan and the nation,” said Sheriff Anthony Wickersham. “From a law enforcement perspective … we’re seeing unused medication getting into the hands of our young adults and high school students. They’re finding it as another way of getting high.”

Wickersham said his office has seen an increase in the use and selling of prescription drugs in local high schools, the latter of which can result in a criminal charge.

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He added because a physician prescribes these medications, teens often think such medications are a safe way to get high.

“But in reality, it’s affecting their body,” he said. “It’s leading them on to more harsher drugs, and as a community, we would like to take those drugs out of homes and dispose of them properly.”

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This Saturday marks the second annual National Prescription Drug Take Back sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Agency. The Sheriff’s Office will be taking part, hosting its own , at which anyone can drop off their unused and expired medication.

“This is an issue that is really gaining in public awareness and that’s what this is all about today, increasing public awareness of how we properly dispose of prescription drugs,” said Congresswoman Candice Miller (R-MI-10).

Throwing these medications in the trash or flushing them down the toilet can actually pose a threat to public health if they enter the water supply, which recent studies suggest they have in trace amounts.

“Now we are finding, and some studies have shown, that in many, many large municipal water systems, there are trace elements of various prescription drugs that are showing up in the drinking water supply,” Miller said. “Although there is not a huge cause for public concern yet, it is something that public health officials across the nation are looking at.”

Macomb County’s own Interim Deputy Health Officer Gary White is one of these health officials concerned with properly disposing of prescription drugs.

“The fact is, pharmaceuticals both prescription and nonprescription are in wide spread use today,” White said. “To throw them in the trash and flush them down the toilet are both ways those contaminants can get into our water supplies.”

White cited an AP report from 2008, which found 24 major metropolitan water systems in the U.S. showed trace amounts of various medications. Trace amounts of prescription medications were found in the water supplies as well as the watershed and groundwater.

“The concern is that continually drinking the water over a long period of time (even with trace amounts of drugs) can lead to a chronic exposure that may or may not be harmful to health. We don’t know yet, but its not something we can just turn our back on and pay no attention to,” White said.

He added it is far easier to properly dispose of drugs in the first place than to filter them from a water system.

Since 2007, the Macomb County Health Department has collected and incinerated almost five tons of non-controlled medications and 75 pounds of controlled medications through its ongoing hazardous waste collection program.

Unused and expired prescription and over-the-counter medications can be dropped off throughout the week at the health department and Sheriff’s Office; however, frequent take-back events are held during the year.

“If people are aware that there are places that they should dispose of them properly, they will do so,” Miller said. “It is an inexpensive way, a safe way, to dispose of your prescription drugs.”

Find a collection site near you on the DEA website.


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