Rain and hail did not stop Marion County citizens from driving to the back of the Marion County Building on Center Street Saturday to get rid of unused medication as part of the area’s fourth Medication Disposal Day. Angela Carbetta, Director of Recycling and Litter Prevention noted that a wide range of items were turned in including liquids, syringes and needles, pills, medicated jell and patches.
The day was a collaborative effort of Marion County Recycling and Litter Prevention, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, Marion General Hospital, Marion City Police Department and the Crawford-Marion ADAMH Board.
“One of the greatest drug threats we face is that of prescription drug abuse,” stated Major Aaron Corwin of the Sheriff’s Office. “Opiate based medication like oxycodone is highly abused. We are in an all out effort to persuade citizens to dispose of medication properly before it can fall into the wrong hands.”
Earlier this year both the Marion County Sheriff’s Office and MARMET officers from Marion City Police Department installed permanent drug collection boxes at their facilities. Those boxes take only pill-based medication but are available for individuals to drop off medication 365 days a year. The departments agreed to do this for a variety of reasons, including the fact that, on average, 4 people die every day in Ohio from opiate based drug overdose. Since 2009, unintended poisonings became the leading cause of injury death in Ohio – surpassing car accidents.
ADAMH board director Jody Demo-Hodgins said that more than 70 percent of people who abuse prescription pain relievers obtain those drugs from friends or relatives, sometimes with permission. This is considered drug diversion and contributes to a growing health and safety problem.
Demo-Hodgins shared numbers from the Ohio Automated Rx Reporting System which keeps track of every opiate based prescription filled by Ohio pharmacies. In 2010, there were enough opiate based prescriptions filled in Marion County to give every man, woman and child 77 pills.
“Often, people think of heroin when they think of opiates. When having a prescription drug drop we can remind them that codeine, hydrocodone, oxycodone, methadone and fentanyl are also opiate based. They are highly effective pain releasers but very addictive.”
During the event, only law enforcement professionals can collect the medication from those dropping off. Corwin noted that it is illegal to give controlled substances to anyone other than a police officer. All programs that accept controlled substances must be operated under the supervision of law enforcement.
Each sponsor noted their appreciation for the MARMET officers who worked hard to make sure that the process moved quickly and those dropping off medication did not have to wait.
Carbetta spoke for all sponsors saying, “The MARMET officers are awesome. We’re so fortunate to have such a high level of cooperation in this effort.”
This year’s event saw 185 cars drop off 180 pounds of pills, five 33-gallon bags of liquids and 2½ bins of sharps/syringes. Of significant note is the collection of 124 bottles of opiate-based prescriptions and a variety of other abused drugs like Xanax, Soma and Ritalin – all highly abused medications.
All three Marion County Commissioners, Dan Russell, Ken Stiverson and Andy Appelfeller, spent the day at the event helping with literature distribution, recycling of plastic and cardboard and showing their appreciation to law enforcement and organizers.
“We want to thank all the people who took the time to drop off their medication. Special thanks to organizers Angie, Jody, Aaron and Dan Sheridan as well as volunteers Cari Newton and pharmacist Kevin Mitchell. Events like this take a lot of effort but they help make our community safer,” said Commissioner Dan Russell.
Angela Carbetta said, ‘We all have different reasons for doing this such as environmental concerns, addiction problems and drug-related crime but ultimately we know that prescription drugs account for about seventy-five percent of all overdose deaths in the United States.”
Demo-Hodgins added that three of every four deaths from pills involve opioid pain relievers, including oxycodone.
The plastic and cardboard containers will be recycled by MARCA Document Destruction and Recycling, with identities being protected.
The next county wide drop off is set for October of this year but event organizers want to remind people that they can bring pills to the Marion Police Department or Marion County Sheriff’s Office at any time.
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