Our View: Drug take-back event next week can save Northland lives

You know those pain pills Grandma got after knee surgery and even that old cold medicine that’s dust-covered and long past its expiration date? We can think of them as ticking time bombs.

No-longer-needed and oft-forgotten medications aren’t just occupying space in medicine cabinets, they are threatening to dangerously end up in the hands of children or curious others. They could even wind up contributing to our region’s and the nation’s worsening opioid and drug-overdose crises.

So, twice a year, in the spring and fall, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration hosts National Prescription Drug Take Back Days. Each “helps prevent accidental poisoning, reduces the possibility of medication misuse, and prevents water pollution and other environmental threats,” as St. Louis County Public Health and Human Services stated on the eve of this spring’s event.

The next drug take-back day is here, next week, on Friday and Saturday, April 26 and 27. That’s next Friday from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District in Duluth and next Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the St. Louis County Sheriff’s offices in Virginia and Hibbing. Drop boxes will be staffed. Questions won’t be asked.

"We're encouraging families to look through their medicine cabinets and remove the temptation for experimentation that can come when others know you're holding onto a medication," former DEA Omaha Division Special Agent in Charge Justin C. King said in a statement last spring. "If you're no longer using a prescription medication, … you can drop (it) off both safely and anonymously."

While it is legal to dispose of medication carefully in the garbage, it's not advised. Drop boxes are the safer, more-secure option. Never flush medications, the Western Lake Superior Sanitary District and its Household Hazardous Waste Facility have advised.

Old medications ought to be kept in their original containers, as the labels may contain safety information and the caps are typically childproof. If the patient's name is scratched out or covered with permanent marker, content information can still be left clearly visible on labels.

Other tips for storing no-longer-needed medications include adding a small amount of water to pills or capsules to partially dissolve them; adding enough table salt, charcoal, or nontoxic powdered spice, such as turmeric or mustard, to liquid medications to make them so pungent and/or unsightly no one would want to ingest them; and wrapping blister packages containing medications in multiple layers of duct tape or other tape to make the drugs difficult to get at.

Medical needles used in homes should be placed in a puncture-resistant container, such as a detergent bottle or plastic soda bottle, with a screw-top cap. A "Medical Sharps" sticker can be put over the cap, or the cap can be marked in pen as, "DANGER MEDICAL SHARPS." Stickers are available at the WLSSD Household Hazardous Waste Facility or by calling 218-722-3336. Containers of needles should be taken to the Duluth facility, which is at the foot of 27th Avenue West.

Helping to dispose of no-longer-needed pharmaceuticals is a small and easy way we can all prevent tragic, often-accidental overdose deaths. We can heed the call to "help remove expired narcotics from our communities (and) prevent medication misuse," as U.S. Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref of the Eastern District of Washington said in a statement last year.

And we can "positively impact the opioid crisis and protect loved ones," as she also said. "Prescription drug misuse and overdose deaths do not discriminate. They can impact individuals of any age, race, gender or demographic."

Prescription take-back days put on by the DEA and state and local law enforcement remain important events in preventing risky experimentation and unnecessary tragedies. Last year, nearly 31,000 pounds of unneeded medications were collected at more than 350 sites during two single-day events within the DEA Omaha District, which includes Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, and the Dakotas.

But there’s no reason to wait for a take-back day to help ensure the health and safety of family and friends. Every day can be a drug take-back day via year-round collection sites. Some 17,000 pharmacies nationwide — including 18 here in Duluth, Superior, and Hermantown — are designated as authorized collectors of unused prescription drugs, no matter what day it is. In the Twin Ports, authorized collection boxes are at Essentia facilities at Lakeside, Hermantown, Superior East, Superior, Superior Belknap, Lakewalk, First Street Duluth, Second Street Duluth, Third Street Duluth, West Duluth, and Miller Hill Mall; the Walgreens stores in West Duluth, on East Superior Street, and on Tower Avenue; the CVS pharmacies on East Superior Street and Tower Avenue; the Superior Walmart; and Northland Pharmacy.

A full list of year-round dropoff locations in St. Louis County is at stlouiscountymn.gov/medwaste . Anyone unable to access a local drop box can contact the county’s Maggie Myers at 218-471-738 or at MyersM@stlouiscountymn.gov for information about other disposal methods, including free medication mail-in envelopes or a “DisposeRx” kit.

The cold reality is that unused prescriptions can become a "gateway to addiction," as the DEA has stated. Seemingly harmless, but they’re helping to fuel drug addiction; according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration , a majority of those who use a prescription medication for a nonmedical purpose get it from a family member or friend — too often without their knowledge.

All of us taking full advantage of the twice-a-year National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events, including next week’s, or the year-round disposal boxes promises to help save lives.