Wednesday, October 23, 2019; Silver City, NM: Over 40 percent of people admit to snooping in medicine cabinets when visiting a house, according to a survey by party planning website The Salonniere.
What would they find in yours?
If the answer is medications, especially left over pills, now is the time to clean out your medicine cabinet during Saturday’s (October 26, 2019) Drug Take Back Day from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at two locations in Grant County: Bayard Public Safety Building and Silver City’s WalMart Super Center.
The Bayard and Silver City Police Departments are partnering with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) to give Grant County residents the opportunity to dispose of unused, unwanted or expired medications safely and anonymously during Drug Take Back Day.
“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,” said Corina Castillo, program specialist of the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition (YSAPC) which is coordinating the events.
Over 23 percent of Grant County High School students reported taking a prescription drugs without a prescription on the Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS), significantly higher than the New Mexico average of 16 percent. The YRRS is a national self-reported survey of the healthy, and not-so-healthy, behaviors of youth.
By removing unused prescription medications from the home and safely storing painkillers, people can better protect their loved ones from accidental poisonings and unintended overdoses.
According to the U.S. Library of Medicine’s Medline Plus, the worse place to store your medications is the bathroom medicine cabinet. In the bathroom medications are exposed to humidity and heat which can damage them. Instead the site advises to store medications in a cool, dry and secure place a kitchen cabinet with a childproof latch or in a locked storage box, especially if you have children in the house.
“Cleaning out your medicine cabinet further limits access to youth especially, but also to our entire community,” added Castillo.
Drug Take Back Day locations accept medications from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Bayard Public Safety Building, 801 Central Ave., and Silver City’s WalMart Super Center, 2501 Highway 180 E.
Prescription and over-the-counter medications are accepted. Sites cannot accept liquids, needles or sharps, only pills or patches. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
National Drug Take Back Day is made possible by the Bayard Police Department, Silver City Police Department, Silver City WalMart Super Center, New Mexico Department of Health and the Youth Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition of Grant County.
For more information on Drug Take Back Day visit the DEA website: https://takebackday.dea.gov/or contact 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)
As New Mexico’s designated Public Health Institute, the Center for Health Innovation (CHI) focuses on bettering community health in underserved and underrepresented populations in the state and beyond. 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, visitwww.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/