Whitley County households to receive drug deactivation kits for expired, unneeded meds

Every Whitley County household will be receiving drug deactivation kits thanks to an ongoing initiative by the Whitley County Health Department (WCHD) to help reduce and prevent overdose incidents in the community.

Several steps have already been taken by the health department in the past few months, from providing “leave behind” kits with area first responders to rallying local government agencies and businesses for Naloxboxes to be placed in locations around the county that often have a high concentration of people. Both of the aforementioned items contain various medical items, including Naloxone—or Narcan—that can be administered in the case of a possible overdose event.

The next part of the health department’s initiative is targeting the risk of accidental overdoses as well as a variety of other potential hazards.

Deterra pouches are drug deactivation kits that can safely dispose of expired, unneeded and unused medications.

According to Kathleen Croley, public health educator at the WCHD, it is common for people to hold onto medications that they didn’t finish or didn’t use, which can create a possible risk for misuse.

“Most people do keep it. You know, you pay a lot for it, so you hate to throw it away,” said Croley. “We’re ultimately trying to get things out of the hands of people that could cause an accidental overdose.”

The kit does read it is a “drug deactivation kit,” which may leave many area residents recoiling, the kit isn’t just for medications we often associate with the word “drug.” It is meant to be used with any kind of pill, film, patch or liquid medication.

“There’s a stigma behind the word ‘drugs.’ We automatically think of those folks that are misusing them or substance-use disorder, but we have everyday people—especially in the older population—who have prescriptions for pain medicines and antibiotics and things that they need to get rid of in a safe way,” said Croley.

Aside from preventing the risk of a possible overdose through misuse, using the drug deactivation kit avoids potential adverse effects that can be caused to the environment from simply tossing medications or flushing them down toilet. There are some medications that can be tossed or flushed, but there are many that can cause problems if not disposed properly.

There is helpful information regarding what medications can be thrown away or flushed on the U.S. Food and Drug Administrations website at www.fda.gov. For those that cannot be simply disposed of, the kits can come in handy.

Each kit can safely dispose of up to 45 pills or films, 6 ounces of liquid or six pouches. You can also dispose a smaller variety of each of those at the same time.

Using the kit is simple: just open the pouch, place the medications inside, fill the pouch halfway with water, wait 30 seconds, seal the pouch and gently shake it before throwing it in the trash.

The kits do not expire, so they can be held onto in case it is needed in the future.

Croley noted that there are also drug takeback boxes installed inside both the Corbin Police Department and Williamsburg Police Department. Nearly all types of medications are accepted in those boxes and can be dropped off anonymously. However, the medications should be in a proper container with any possible identifying information removed.

A list of drug takeback box locations can also be located on the FDA’s website.