Dozens of people participated in the event, at which hundreds of prescription medications were collected.

The goal of the program is to keep residents safe and combat opioid abuse, said Karen Taris who coordinated the event on behalf of UPHP.

“With the growing opioid crisis,” Taris said, “a lot of people are getting their start with old prescriptions or unused meds.”

And the concern about opioid use is well founded — according to a Michigan Department of Health and Human Services report, 2,729 people in Michigan died in 2017 from drug overdoses and a report from 2016 state that at least five people in the state die of opioid-related overdoses every day and four out of five of those deaths are accidental.

Hundreds of prescription medications were collected during the event. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

A Michigan State Police news release states that troopers see “daily devastation caused by opioid and prescription drug abuse, accidental poisoning and overdoses.”

“Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet,” the release states. “Further, disposing of unused medications by flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash can pose safety and health hazards.”

UPHP pharmacist Mary LaBelle said it is human nature to hold on to old prescriptions, but it’s not a good idea for a variety of reasons.

“We don’t need to collect these medications at home and it’s hard not to, because they are valuable and you just don’t know when and if you will need them again,” LaBelle said. “But we really shouldn’t be collecting them at home.”

Marquette County Sheriff Sgt. David Derocher said the risks associated with saving prescription drugs in the home are varied, and should be taken seriously.

A volunteer drops a baggie into a box during the event. (Journal photo by Lisa Bowers)

“We all hoard it so its hidden in a little cabinet and its not accounted for,” Derocher said. “(But) medications can fall into the wrong hands. Babies or young children could ingest it, or the kids could take the pills, go to school and sell them.”

He also warned that everyday conversations about health conditions and what medications a person takes for them could cause problems from outside the home.

“Prescription meds are an attractant,” Derocher said. “Because people will break into your house for them. People will threaten you for them. For example, you see someone who’s got back pain, somebody with crutches or a walker you can pretty much guess that they’ve got medications in that house. People would target that kind of a house to go into to steal medication.”

In addition to the risk of medications falling into the wrong hands, there are also environmental consequences to improperly disposing of prescription medications, LaBelle said.

“It’s horrible for the environment to flush them down the toilet. You can’t just put them in a garbage can because people can get to those, animals can get to those. Your dog could rip into your garbage bag and if you had a fentanyl patch in there they would die, they could eat it and die. For the environment, for our safety at home, we really need to keep just what we are currently using.”

The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality website states that a low level of pharmaceuticals are persistent in surface water and ground water.

“Although there are no known health risks to people, there are known impacts to amphibians, fish, wildlife, and bacteria,” the site states. “Without improvements in disposal and our wastewater treatment technologies, the level of pharmaceuticals in our water is expected to increase as more and more people continue to take more and more medications.”

The bi-annual events are successful, according the MSP release. An event in April collected roughly 956 pounds of prescription drugs.

But if there is anything to be learned from the DEA’s National Drug Takeback day, Taris said, it’s that you can safely dispose of leftover or expired prescription medications any day of the year.

“The DEQ website offers tips on how to dispose of medications that are no longer needed,” Taris said.

Unused prescriptions can be dropped off in special lock-boxes located at police departments in the city of Marquette, the city of Ishpeming, the city of Negaunee as well as Chocolay and Forsyth townships and the Michigan State Police Post in Negaunee.

For more information on safe ways to dispose of prescription drugs, visit www.michigan-open.org; www.michigan.gov/deq/ or by following the hashtag #MIopioidsAwareness on social media.