Prescription Drug Disposal

Mar 11, 2020

A prescription drug drop box is available in the lobby of the Dublin Justice Center, located at 6565 Commerce Parkway.

The box provides a convenient, safe and environmentally-friendly way for Dublin residents to dispose of unused or expired medications.

Pills, patches, medication samples and pet medications are accepted.

Needles, lancets, syringes, inhalers and liquids are not accepted. (Sharps may be disposed along with your regular trash collection as long as you put them in a hard container such as a laundry detergent bottle. Please ask your pharmacist about proper inhaler disposal).

The drop box is locked and monitored by video surveillance at all times to ensure it is used properly.

This community safety resource is a joint effort between the Dublin Division of Police and Dublin A.C.T. Coalition. It is made possible by grant money received from the Cardinal Health Foundation and the National Association of Drug Diversion Investigators.

This initiative will make our community safer by helping keep medications out of the wrong hands. Prescription drug abuse is a growing problem nationwide and in Ohio.

Facts on Prescription Drug Abuse:

America:

Prescription drug abuse causes the largest percentage of deaths from drug overdosing.
Every day in the US, 2,500 youth (12 to 17) abuse a prescription pain reliever for the first time
Two-thirds of teens who abuse prescription drugs did so before the age of 16.
14% of teens (about 1 in 7) in a recent study reported using prescription pain relievers not prescribed for them in the past year, and 9% (about 1 in 11) reported doing so in the past month
In 2011, about 1.4 million emergency room visits involved the nonmedical use of pharmaceuticals. Among those ER visits, 501,207 visits were related to anti-anxiety and insomnia medications, and 420,040 visits were related to opioid analgesics.
Of the 22,767 deaths relating to pharmaceutical overdose in 2013, 16,235 (71.3%) involved opioid analgesics (also called opioid pain relievers or prescription painkillers), and 6,973 (30.6%) involved benzodiazepines.8 (Some deaths include more than one type of drug.)
The drug overdose death rate has more than doubled from 1999 through 2013.
As many as 1 in every 5 teens in America say they have taken a prescription drug that was not prescribed for them.
After marijuana and alcohol, prescription drugs are the most commonly abused substances by Americans age 14 and older.

Ohio:

In 2007, unintentional drug poisoning became the leading cause of injury death in Ohio, surpassing motor vehicle crashes for the first time on record. This trend continued has continued through 2012.
On average approximately five people die each day in Ohio due to drug overdose.
In Ohio, there were 411 fatal unintentional drug overdoses in 2000 growing to 1,914 annual deaths in 2012.
From 2000 to 2012, Ohio’s death rate due to unintentional drug poisonings increased 366 percent, and the increase in deaths has been driven largely by prescription drug overdoses.

In general:

Most teens get prescription drugs they abuse from friends and relatives, sometimes without the person knowing.
The most commonly abused prescription drugs are pain medications, sleeping pills, anti-anxiety medications and stimulants (used to treat attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders).
If and how quickly you become addicted to a drug depends on many factors, including your biology (your genes), age, gender, and environment. While one person may use a drug one or many times and suffer no ill effects, another person may overdose with the first use, or become addicted after just a few uses.
Prescription painkillers are powerful drugs that can be dangerous, or even deadly, especially when taken at high doses or combined with alcohol. A single large dose can cause breathing difficulty that can lead to death. The short-term effects of painkiller abuse can include lack of energy, inability to concentrate, nausea and vomiting.
Because of their effect on the brain, prescription painkillers can be highly addictive when used for non-medical purposes. Even patients who are prescribed painkillers for a long time can develop a “physical dependence,” meaning that the body becomes accustomed to having the drug. Stopping the drug abruptly can cause severe withdrawal symptoms, so, any changes when using these medications must be reported to and carefully monitored by a doctor.
Depressant drugs can make you depressed, confused and irritable. And addiction increases your chances of more dangerous outcomes, like overdose, slowed breathing and heart rate, and even death.
Some people mistakenly believe that prescription stimulants can give them energy, help them focus and help them perform better in school. But if you haven’t been diagnosed with a condition that requires taking these drugs, and aren’t taking them under a doctor’s supervision, stimulant abuse can lead to side effects that are both dangerous and deadly.
There are both acute (immediate) and longer term risks to prescription drug abuse. In the short term, overdosing (especially on prescription pain relievers) can be fatal, as can mixing prescription drugs with over-the-counter medication and/or alcohol. In the longer term, prescription opioids (pain relievers) and other prescription medicines are potentially addictive. Coming to rely at a young age on prescription medicine (or any drug) to ―manage‖ your life risks establishing a learned, lifelong pattern of dependency and limitation and prevents learning coping skills.

References:

Media contact:
Lindsay Weisenauer
Senior Public Information Officer
614.410.4504 – Desk
614.704.9742 – Cell
lweisenauer@dublin.oh.us
Newsroom: http://dublinohiousa.gov/newsroom
@DublinOhio | @DublinPolice | www.DublinOhioUSA.gov

Prescription Drug Disposal

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