Halton Regional Police is encouraging the proper disposal of prescription drugs and over-the-counter medication to avoid them falling into the wrong hands, possibly causing harm to others or being flushed into the water system.
The head of Halton police’s Drug, Gun and Gang unit says it is easy for citizens to keep potentially harmful drugs from damaging the environment, getting into the hands of curious children or onto the black market, by utilizing one of two free services.
Det.-Sgt. Brad Murray is asking the public to bring unwanted or expired prescription drugs (ie Tylenol 3s), over-the-counter medicines, vitamins and herbal remedies to a pharmacy or one of five police stations in Halton for safe disposal.
“Parents need to prevent children and adolescents from getting access to harmful drugs. Most harmful drugs are found at home. Essentially, the (inadvertent drug) trafficker is living at home,” said Murray.
The problem, he says, is that some people accidentally misuse, purposefully abuse or sell potent narcotic painkillers (opioid analgesics) like morphine or OxyNEO — the latter formerly called OxyContin/Oxycodone — which are used to relieve severe chronic pain in people with conditions like arthritis.
In other cases, Murray noted that a Fentanyl patch — similar in appearance to a Band-Aid, it releases pain relief medication through the skin to treat severe chronic pain in cancer and palliative care patients — is another prescription painkiller that police worry can get into the wrong hands.
“That patch is 100 times stronger than a morphine pill,” he said. “There are a lot of people on it. It is in high demand on the black market.”
Some people will try to extract the medication from the patch and either try to inject it or smoke it for a high.
A 2013 Toronto Star story noted that in 2011 in Ontario there were 102 overdose deaths involving Fentanyl.
To keep the Fentanyl patches as well as unwanted or outdated prescribed drugs and non-prescription medications out of the reach of children and away from the clutches of criminals, Halton police is advocating two means of safe disposal.
The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) has started a new program called Patch4Patch.
People with Fentanyl patches can only get another prescription filled for the patch if they bring their used ones back to a pharmacy. It is to try to prevent people from misusing them or selling them.
“It’s in the works in Halton; it’s now in effect in the Durham and Peterborough areas,” Murray said of Patch4Patch.
Pharmacies also accept unwanted medicines and vitamins as well as sharps (needles).
Samir Patel, the owner-operator of Morelli’s pharmacies inside two Longo’s stores in Burlington, provides a bucket that the public can use to discard such items.
“I tell people they can bring in prescription and non-prescription (medicines), instead of throwing them into the garbage or flushing them down the toilet, to save the environment,” said Patel.
“You don’t want to be drinking one part per billion of anti-depressant (medication) or one part per million of blood thinner,” he added.
Patel’s two pharmacies have an arrangement with Murray for police to pick up the items a couple of times a month.
He says the breakdown of items dropped off at his pharmacies is about evenly split between prescription and non-prescription medicines.
Halton police is offering a similar free program to the public. Each of its five stations in Halton have a built-in depository just inside the front doors. Residents can insert their unused or unwanted medications/vitamins in the receptacle.
“It’s easy to flush it down a toilet but we want to make it easy to bring it in” to pharmacies or the police…. It’s another community mobilization avenue,” said Murray.
The program at police stations started last November. Murray said an average of about 80 pounds of medicines are collected each month among the five locations, including what is gathered by participating pharmacists.
What police collect from the public and from the pharmacies is incinerated with other controlled substances they have seized.
“Obviously we receive information from the public about all drugs (and potentially illegal activity) but lately there has been a spike in information involving trafficking,” including prescription drugs, said Murray.
“It has led to ongoing investigations so we want people to know this is on our radar.”
If residents want to discard medicines but can’t get to a pharmacy or police station in Halton, call 905-634-1831, ext. 8710, and a pick-up will be arranged by an officer.
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Detail Link :
http://www.insidehalton.com/news-story/5272948-halton-police-encouraging-proper-disposal-of-potentially-harmful-medicines/