This shop has been compensated by Inmar Intelligence and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #AprilDrugTakeBackDayWA
I don’t always get personal on the blog, but when you have a passion for the subject matter, you want to make more people aware so they can avoid the same type of scenario.
I know I have talked about family before who struggled with addiction, but I feel this is super important so I am going to speak out again. In Washington, it’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day on April 30th, which is great because there are LifeInCheck Consumer Drug Take-back ™ kiosk to discard unwanted and expired prescription drugs. However, you cannot discard pet medications or needles in the state of Washington.
We have family members that struggle with addiction as I am sure many can understand, and during those times they would seek help or intervention with us and end up finding some medication in our cupboard that I had leftover after giving birth and from wisdom tooth removal. We were naïve in thinking that someone who suffered from alcoholism wouldn’t go after prescription medication just to feel some sort of high to curb the alcohol addiction.
This past year, a niece of mine who suffers from some underlying mental health issues that have been unresolved, decided to take a whole bottle of medication to commit suicide. It was the scariest thing to see since she was hallucinating and couldn’t control her body movements. She had to stay in the hospital for a week to recover and talk with a psychiatrist. Thankfully, it didn’t end her life and we are happy she is still here with us.
You never think it’ll happen to your family until it actually does in some spur, random moment when you assume everything is “okay.”
So if we discard our prescription medications or keep it locked up and out of reach, we can make life drastically better for those struggling with addiction or mental health issues since it won’t be there for the taking.
Did You Know? (per LifeInCheck Drug Disposal program)
Every 7 minutes an American dies from an overdose.
51% of misused prescription pain relievers are given by, bought from, or taken from a friend or relative.
18M people in the U.S. over the age of 12 have misused medications at least once in the past year.
46M Americans are exposed to trace amounts of narcotics in their drinking water
The numbers don’t lie. The stats prove that offering only two drug take-back days a year is not enough to protect our communities. But, together, we can provide easily accessible, friendly, and safe places to dispose of unused and expired medications — at any time. Working with the Inmar LifeInCheck Drug Disposal program, every day can be a drug take-back day.
What is the LifeInCheck Consumer Drug Take-back ™ Program and how does it work?
LifeInCheck Drug Disposal program is a safe option for consumers to dispose of their unused or outdated prescription medications in secure receptacles located across the US. This is a great idea because some people are old school and think flushing medications down the toilet or pouring them in the drain or throwing them in the garbage is the easiest way to get rid of unwanted medication. I feel safe and secure knowing that I’m not damaging our environment, or worse, allowing my kids or having my family/friends to get into our unused prescription drugs again.
LifeInCheck has created a tool to help us safely dispose of unused or expired medications. Simply enter your city and state or zip code and search radius and a list will be provided of safe drug take-back locations in your area.
We know the opioid crisis is on a massive scale, so do your part to help protect your family and our communities.
