On Saturday, Operation Prescription Take Back was responsible for getting unwanted prescription medications off shelves and, potentially, out of the reach of people who would use those drugs for the wrong reasons.
Police Detective Dominick Vortherms says the take-back event essentially kills three birds with one stone. Part of that is to reduce the amount of drugs available for so-called “pharming” parties, where teens or young adults would take a handful of drugs and swallow them, sometimes with harmful or lethal effects.
Part of that also is to reduce the potential gateway effect from prescription drugs to opioids, which have ravaged the East and West Coasts and are moving our way.
On top of that, having take-back events also reduces the temptation to simply flush the unused meds down the toilet, which could have harmful effects on people downstream.
Totals are pending. Representatives of the Drug Enforcement Agency will pick up drugs collected locally, perhaps as soon as Monday.
