WNEU students participate in Prescription Drug Take-Back

Oct. 20, 2017 | Payton North
payton@thereminder.com

EAST LONGMEADOW – Annually prescription drug “Take-Back” events are hosted all over the United States.  In 2010, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) announced the nationwide Take-Back initiative to collect potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs that would then be destructed.

The East Longmeadow Police Station is taking part in the Take-Back event, inviting people in town and surrounding communities to anonymously drop off and dispose of their unused or expired prescription medication.  

Western New England University’s (WNEU) College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences will be participating in the local Take-Back initiatives in East Longmeadow, Springfield, Ludlow and Belchertown.  There will be three to four students at each site to help with the collection process and to spread the word of the events message.

“One of my professors, Dr. Kam Capoccia, provides patient care in the community.  She expressed how just a few days earlier a patient came in with a huge garbage bag full of old medications and she had to find options for the patient to dispose of large quantities of unused medications.  From here sprouted our idea of a study looking into the knowledge and education of pharmacists and consumers about the proper disposal of unwanted and or expired medications,” WNEU College of Pharmacy student Karolina Kwietniak said.

Kwietniak believes that the prescription drug Take-Back events are crucial to local communities.

“This project we are taking on was designed to correct gaps in the knowledge that pharmacists and patients needs for the safe and proper disposal of drugs in the community,” Kwietniak said. “We think it is so important that our patients be informed and feel comfortable disposing of their leftover medications.  Especially as future pharmacists, it’s vital that we are informed and aware of our local resources and can properly refer and advise patients.”

According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, during the 2017 April annual Take-Back event, more than 4,200 law enforcement officers and community partners collected more unused prescription drugs than at any of the 12 previous National Prescription Drug Take-Back days.  Additionally, the April event brought in 900,386 pounds, which is equivalent to 450 tons, of unused or expired prescription drugs at 5,500 sites across the United States.  Since the first prescription Take-Back day in 2010, over 8,103,363 pounds of prescription drugs have been collected.

To find a local event, go to https://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/ and click on “locate a collection site near you” or contact your local police department to find out more details about where the event is taking place.  To attend East Longmeadow’s Take-Back event, go to the town’s Police Station between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Oct. 28.  For more details regarding that specific event, contact the East Longmeadow Police Department at 525-5440.

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