The Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office is launching a new drug disposal program and prescription drug safety campaign Wednesday. The United Way and the sheriff’s office secured a grant from the North Carolina Governor’s Crime Commission to fund the program.
According to the NC Center for Health Statistics, Rutherford County has one of the state’s highest unintentional fatal overdose rates with 13 deaths. The county is also ranked as one of the top five counties in the state for the highest number of controlled substance prescriptions dispensed each month.
"Some of the latest studies show that one of the first drugs that children and teenagers are experimenting with is no longer marijuana, it's pills that they got out of momma and daddy's medicine cabinent," said pharmacist Heriot Boyce
The large quantity of prescription narcotics in the community makes it much easier for powerful medications to fall into the wrong hands, says Rutherford County Sheriff Chris Francis. He adds this is especially difficult when residents don’t have a safe way to dispose of those drugs on a regular basis.
“If you’re prescribed potent painkillers after surgery and half that bottle is still left months later, those pills present a real danger just sitting in your medicine cabinet,” said Sheriff Francis. “We don’t want your children or their friends to experiment with those pills. We don’t want anyone else to get their hands on them. The best thing you can do is dispose of those pills.”
Sheriff Francis believes the medicine drop box will be utilized due to two highly successful prescription drug turn-in events last year. Operation Medicine Drop was held twice in Rutherford County in 2011, resulting in the collection and safe disposal of a total of 131,329.5 dosage units of prescription and over-the-counter medications.
Residents can begin using the drop box starting Thursday, January 26th.
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