“This is something every West Virginian can do to lend a hand in fighting prescription drug abuse,” said Rahall. “Because they are legal and easily accessible in medicine cabinets, prescription drugs lend themselves to misuse if they are not properly disposed of and this is an easy and beneficial way for West Virginians to clean out their medicine cabinets by bringing outdated medications to the drop-off locations.”
Drug Take Back Day is a national program to provide the public with a no-questions-asked opportunity to turn in expired, unwanted, or unused pharmaceuticals, controlled substances, and other medications that will be safely removed from communities and destroyed. It is sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in coordination with state and local law enforcement.
Rahall is promoting proper drug disposal as one component of the four-part strategy that he is pursuing on prescription drug abuse, tracking the recommendations of the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP). The strategy outlines four major areas for addressing prescription drug abuse: education, tracking and monitoring, proper medical disposal, and enforcement.
Rahall has cosponsored legislation to strengthen law enforcement and crackdown on "pill mills," a term used by law enforcement to describe a doctor or clinic that is prescribing or dispersing powerful narcotics inappropriately or for non-medical uses. He has also called upon the ONDCP Director to support the petition from the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) and the West Virginia State Police and local law enforcement to include Mercer County in the Appalachia HIDTA. With such a designation, southern West Virginia would have increased access to federal resources and information sharing between federal, state, and local law enforcement personnel in reducing illicit drug trafficking within the area.
Police departments across southern West Virginia are providing locations for residents to safely drop-off their expired or unused prescriptions and over-the-counter medications. Citizens can anonymously drop off medications between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at any one of the 26 drop-off locations below in southern West Virginia.
In Logan County, prescription drugs can be dropped off to the Logan County Sheriff’s Department at the Walmart Super Center at the Fountain Place Mall and to the West Virginia State Police at the WVSP detachment in Logan.
Prescription drugs can be dropped off to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department at the Lincoln County Courthouse in Hamlin, the Harts Community Center in Harts and at the McCorkle Community Center in Summerco; and to the WVSP at the detachment in Hamlin.
In Boone County, prescription medications can be taken to the Boone County Sheriff’s Department in the Boone County Courthouse in Madison. In Mingo County, the prescription medications can be dropped off to the Mingo County Sheriff’s Department and the West Virginia State Police at the Williamson detachment of the WVSP.
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