St. Joseph residents and those around Buchanan County can dispose of any unused or unneeded prescription medications on Saturday during National Drug Take Back Day.
The St. Josephy Youth Alliance, partnering with the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office and the St. Joseph Police Department will hold a drug take back event in the East Hills parking lot on Saturday from 10am to 2pm.
Youth Alliance Substance Use Prevention Director Julie Wiedmer says the event expresses the importance of safely disposing of prescription medications.
” So that they don’t become in the wrong hands of someone who maybe struggles with addiction, then we also don’t want them in our water supply, and all of that stuff as well,” . “So, we really want the community to take an opportunity to use this event as a quick and easy way to clean out their medicine cabinets and get these things disposed of properly.”
Weidmer adds that easy access to these medications is what drives drug abuse for both youth and adults.
“So, we just want to make sure that parents are aware that keeping these kinds of mediations around that might be easily abused, or misused, it’s really important to keep those out of the hands of the youth,” Weidmer explains. “Because we know that people who do struggle with substance misuse, they will tell you that’s often times one of the easiest sources for them is friends and families medicine cabinets, and people kind of tend to hang onto those things thinking I might need them, especially pain medications and things like that.”
“But it really is just a better idea to get rid of them if you’re not needing them right now and get a new prescription if you’re needing them later.”
The drive-up clinic will be held on the west side of East Hills Mall from 10am to 2pm on Saturday. Residents can just drive up and drop off any medications at the event.
If you happen to miss the event, the Buchanan County Sheriff’s Office does also have a drop box that is open year-round at the Law Enforcement Center, which Sheriff Bill Puett says is the same process.
“Come throw your prescription bottles in there, and the same folks that assist with Drug Take Back are the same folks that remove that stuff from the drug drop boxes, and it goes through the same process, it goes to the DEA,” Sheriff Puett said.