Press Release: From Four Corners Health Department
Here is some useful information about how to dispose of unneeded medications.
April is Alcohol Awareness Month. This is a time to raise awareness of substance use & misuse. According to the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, people who drank twice the amount of the standard drink size for their gender were 70 times more likely to have an alcohol-related emergency room visit. Do you know what is considered one standard drink? 12 oz of beer, 8 oz of malt liquor, 5 oz of wine, and 1.5 oz of distilled spirits or liquor are considered standard drinks.
Polysubstance use is when two or more substances are used together or within a short time of each other. Whether this is planned or not, using alcohol and other substances is unsafe because the results may be stronger and harder to predict than one drug alone and even deadly. Driving under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol puts you and others in harm’s way and kills thousands of people each year.
By getting rid of unneeded medications from your home, you are helping prevent medication misuse and drug addiction from ever starting. If you have unneeded medications in your home, the Drug Enforcement Administration will host its National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, April 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For more than a decade, the event has helped Americans easily rid their homes of unneeded medications—those that are old, unwanted, or expired—that too often become a gateway to addiction. Take Back Day offers free and anonymous disposal of unneeded medications at close to 5,000 local drop-off spots nationwide.
Check with your pharmacy to see if they take back unwanted drugs and see if they have any limits on what they take back.
If you have unused medicine, Four Corners has free Deterra pouches. You put unused medications into a Deterra pouch, fill with water, seal, shake, and throw away in the trash. It is safe and non-toxic to use.
For more information on these topics, go to https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohols-effects-health/alcohol-topics/alcohol-facts-and-statistics or https://www.samhsa.gov/find-help/atod/alcohol
If you have questions or want to learn more, call Four Corners at 402-362-2621 or 877-337-3573. You can also email us at info@fourcorners.ne.gov.
Visit the Four Corners website at https://fourcorners.ne.gov. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Subscribe to our YouTube channel @fc_healthdept!
