The Kinston Department of Public Safety is out for your drugs.
Old or unused prescription drugs can be dropped off Monday at the Walgreens on Herritage Street. It’s part of a regular program, Operation Medicine Drop, which is a partnership between local law enforcement and Safe Kids North Carolina, Riverkeepers of North Carolina, the State Bureau of Investigation and Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of North Carolina.
“We will be there ready to take drugs in at 10 o’ clock, and we will accept drugs until 2 o’ clock,” said Jackie Leonard, KDPS community coordinator, Wednesday. “We will have our command bus there in the Walgreens parking lot. We have been very successful. We have a drop box here in the lobby of our police station and we collected 30 pounds last week. So, those drug drop-offs have been very successful.”
At a similar event last fall, Leonard said the effort netted more than 10,000 prescription drug doses. The event Monday is part of observance of National Poison Prevention Week.
Operation Medicine Cabinet — a similar multi-organizational project — notes 20 percent of state teens abused prescription drugs at least once, and of those, 70 percent of the time those pills come from a family member’s medicine cabinet.
“It gets an illicit drug off the street, reduces the chance someone will get their home robbed, and also, it also protects our streams and our fields,” Leonard said. “Drugs should not be flushed down the toilet, thrown in the drain, or put in the trash.”
Wastewater treatment facilities typically aren’t able to remove pharmaceutical elements from the water.
According to Waterkeepers Carolina, “Aquatic species’ exposure to pharmaceutical pollution is constant and occurs during crucial developmental life stages. North Carolina’s waters are particularly impacted, shown by a nationwide study that found the highest prevalence of intersex fish — 91 percent — in N.C.’s Yadkin-Pee Dee basin.”
When fish present both male and female aspects, it can cause problems in reproduction and lead to significantly reduced populations.
The drugs also cycle back around. A 2008 investigation by the Associated Press found detectable amounts of pharmaceuticals in the drinking water of 24 major metropolitan areas, affecting an estimated 41 million people.
Leonard said in addition to taking in old or unneeded medications, free day-of-the-week pill boxes are available as supplies last.
If you’re unable to attend the drug drop-off, the drop box in the KDPS lobby is available Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
Wes Wolfe can be reached at 252-559-1075 or wes.wolfe@kinston.com. Follow him on Twitter @WolfeReports.
Breakout Box
Prescription Drug Drop-off
- Walgreens
- 2201 N. Herritage St., Kinston
- Monday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.