LOUISA – A free “Clean Your Medicine Cabinet Out Day” program will be held by the Lawrence County Champions/UNITE Coalition on Friday, May 27.
Citizens are urged to bring all unused, unwanted or out-of-date medicines to the Lawrence Community Center parking lot, 180 Bulldog Lane, Louisa, between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. There is no charge for this service.
All medications will be fed to UNITE’s “Pill Dragon,” a mobile incinerator sponsored by UNITE, Eastern Kentucky PRIDE and the Kentucky Army National Guard.
The Pill Dragon is designed to keep medications from being disposed of in landfills or by flushing them down the toilet. Both methods have the potential to harm the environment.
Keeping your home free of unneeded medications also reduces the potential for theft and experimentation with drugs.
Some studies have shown that 90 percent of teens that try prescription drugs for the first time turn to the family medicine cabinet or to a friend’s family for prescription and over-the-counter medications – making them an “accidental dealer.”
Aside from the fact that taking or giving away medicine that is not prescribed to you is illegal, even at small doses the potential exists for serious health effects – including death. This is especially worrisome in southern and eastern Kentucky, where the average age of first-time use is age 11.