CLEARFIELD – On July 7, servicemen and women from the Pennsylvania National Guard stopped at the Clearfield Borough Police Department to pick-up prescriptions that had been disposed of in the many medication collection boxes throughout the county.
In total, there were over 450 pounds of medications collected that will be taken for safe and legal disposal.
The drug collection and disposal program is a coordinated effort between the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association and Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs to help discard unused and expired medication so that it does not end up on the streets.
Studies show that many abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from home medicine cabinets.
“The way to help avoid prescription drug abuse is to safely remove unused medicine from the home,” said Clearfield County District Attorney Ryan P. Sayers.
“I would like to thank SSG Kevin Gendall of the PA National Guard, Susan Ford, director of the Clearfield-Jefferson Drug and Alcohol Commission, and the Chiefs of Police in Clearfield County for coordinating this program for the people of Clearfield County.
“It is a community effort to make sure these drugs do not get abused, and it all starts with each person in their own homes.”
“The Clearfield-Jefferson Drug and Alcohol Commission considers the Medication Take Back Boxes placed in each municipality as one more community-based, harm-reduction tool, used to combat opioid use and overdose,” according to Susan Ford, executive director of the Clearfield-Jefferson Drug and Alcohol Commission.
“Without mechanisms to remove unwanted medications, our communities would face greater hurdles in combating the opioid epidemic.”
Medication collection boxes are located at the municipal police departments and in the Clearfield County Courthouse Annex. All dry medications, patches, liquid medications in their original containers, and creams/ointments are accepted.
Please do not flush these drugs down the drains in your homes or throw into your garbage can. This can cause contamination of water directly through discharge for treatment plants or via leeching out of landfills.
If you have any questions about this program, you can contact the Clearfield County District Attorney’s Office or the Clearfield-Jefferson Drug & Alcohol Commission for more information.
