Story by Tiffany Brady / Contributing Writer
Photo by Sarah Grace Taylor / Editor-in-Chief
Due to the rising 28,000 opioid abusers in the United States, the Drug Enforcement Administration has appointed April 29, 2017, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., as National Take Back Day. On this day, people around the nation are encouraged to drop off expired or unused prescriptions that are legally in their possession or in possession of a person residing in their own household.
States across the nation have taken action in this initiative. Tennessee itself is one of the focus states, concentrating a vast number of opioid abuses. The DEA has marked this day with the statement: “The National Prescription Drug Take Back Day aims to provide a safe, convenient, and responsible means of disposing of prescription drugs, while also education the general public about the potential for abuse and medications.”
One of the leading organizations for this take back initiative in Tennessee is Count It! Lock It! Drop It!. One of their main efforts it to reduce the amount of prescription pain pills being used for non-medical use across the state of Tennessee.
Giving startling statistics about Tennessee’s epidemic use of opioids, Count It! Lock It! Drop It claimed that Tennessee was deemed 2nd in the nation in opioid prescribing, while 55 percent of the people using prescription drugs got them recreationally from a friend or relative.
In turn, MTSU partnered with campus police and Lipscomb University College of Pharmacy on April 20, 2017, collecting 92 pounds in their drug take back event. Within the last year, 1.5 percent of MTSU’s Health Department sample of randomly chosen undergraduate and graduate students, claimed to use opioids. When another sample was ran within the last 30 days, that number has reduced to 1 percent, according to Health s
Starting on April 29, 2017, 100 events around the state of Tennessee will be assembled in order to facilitate your initiatives.
For more information on a site near you, visit http://countitlockitdropit.org.
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To contact News Editor Brinley Hineman, email newseditor@mtsusidelines.com.
