SHAC participates in national Drug Take-Back Day
Saturday, the Student Health and Counseling Center, along with police stations, clinics, hospitals and social centers all over the United States, took back medications with no questions asked.
National Drug Take-Back Day is an event popular in many cities throughout the U.S. With a few exceptions, SHAC and other Oregon clinics and police stations take back any medication, prescription or non-prescription, with no required proof of prescription, no personal inquiries and no judgments. People brought in expired painkillers, unused antibiotics, the leftover pills from deceased relatives, etc.
While it is currently only done nationally twice per year, drug take-backs are a brilliant idea. Studies have found that regular drug take-backs may reduce prescription drug abuse in teens and keep drugs out of the water supply. With both of these issues so prevalent in the U.S., any program that helps solve the problem is worth supporting.
The idea behind take-backs is simple: Drugs, like almost all consumables, expire after a period of time. Once they’ve expired, they either lose their effectiveness or can become toxic. Many people either stock them, take them regardless or flush them down the toilet once the expiration date has been passed.
Keeping expired drugs around increases the likelihood they’ll be taken accidentally or used deliberately, either for their intended purpose or as an ingredient or method of becoming high.
Using expired drugs can be dangerous; once certain substances have been left to their own devices for long enough, they may change composition to something unsafe for consumption. In some case, this can simply mean that they cause stomachaches. In others, it can lead to much more serious conditions.
Throwing drugs away does not prevent this. People desperate for help or a high will take any medication they can find, and if one is left with no other options, they will use what they find in the trash. It is an unnecessary risk for these people, and preventing dangerous drugs from entering their potential supply is a goodthing.
The other alternative people have used is flushing the medications in question down the toilet. To many, this seems sensible. Sewage goes to a treatment plant, and that should remove the drugs from the water, right? As it turns out, this is not always the case. Drugs can enter the water supply from this if even one thing goes wrong.
By offering a service to accept expired and unused drugs, SHAC and other organizations are acting to protect people from the dangers listed above. Although they cannot take sharps (needles, catheters, etc.), thermometers, fluid bags or inhalers, these items can generally be taken to a hospital or pharmacy for advice on disposal. There are several sharps disposals at PSU as well.
According to a SHAC press release, pain medication use is higher in Portland than the national average. It has been suggested by some that this usage level is due to those using pain medication for purposes other than pain management. People have also theorized this could be due to the high levels of activity in the population; bicycle and sports related injuries are common in Portland.
The medications received will be incinerated, so the drugs will likely not enter the water supply or damage the environment. And since drug take-backs want as many unused medications brought in as possible, there is a “no questions asked” policy in place. So even if it isn’t technically your medication that you’re bringing in, you probably wouldn’t get in trouble.
If you want to get rid of your unused medications, there will not be another national Drug Take-Back Day until next year. However, you can always check out takebacknetwork.com/oregon to find out where you can bring your old drugs.
