Have you ever considered what to do with your prescription medication that needs to be disposed of?
Is the trashcan a good disposal method? How about flushing them down the toilet?
Most people don’t know what to do with their drugs, as Michael Dougherty, the communication relations representative for the behavioral health unit at Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, pointed out.
With that in mind, Henry Mayo teamed up with the DEA and other organizations to hold a prescription drug take back drive where people could safely dispose of their medication.
“We do this on a regularly basis because we want to make sure we are getting everything off the streets that we can,” said Dougherty.
The pick-ups are done completely anonymously. The deliverer does not even have to exit their car to drop off their prescription.
“We don’t even look (at the prescriptions),” said Dougherty.
And the goal of this is clear—to create a safer and healthier community for our children to grow up in.
“It’s a clear and simple goal: we want to get these drugs out of the reach of our kids,” said Cary Quashen, executive director of Henry Mayo’s Behavioral Health.
After the drive is over, the DEA will collect the prescriptions and incinerate them. Quashen is hoping to get 130 pounds of prescriptions from the drive that will be disposed of properly.