Residents throughout Prairie North Health Region have the opportunity once again to participate in a region-wide medication roundup. The campaign began Monday, Nov. 14 coinciding with National Addictions Awareness Week, to help focus on the potential link between prescription drugs and addictions.
Kim Tradewell, Population Health promotion co-ordinator with PNHR, encourages residents to gather up any unused or expired prescription medications, or oral over-the-counter medications, and take them to the local pharmacy for free, safe disposal.
“It’s a matter of safety,” Tradewell said. “When medications accumulate in the home, there is an increased risk of misuse or abuse of them.”
Unsafe storage of medications in the home is one of the ways that prescription medications can be diverted from their intended medical purpose. The person for whom the medication was prescribed may be unaware someone else is using their medications, especially if that person is not currently taking their medication.
“The best way to ensure that medications are not accidentally ingested, or do not fall into the hands of people who could abuse them, is to take your medications as prescribed and, if you don’t finish your medications, to properly dispose of them,” stated Tradewell.
The same is true of over-the-counter medications. Either over-the-counter or prescription medications can lead to poisonings, addictions or other harms. While people cannot necessarily avoid being prescribed medications that could be harmful when not taken as prescribed, safely disposing of unused medication is one way to help reduce the likelihood that misuse or poisoning can happen.
Tradewell adds that on a broader scale, when prescription or over-the-counter medication is thrown into the garbage, or flushed down the sink or toilet, the chemical components can wind up in the soil or water supply.
“For the safety of the public and the environment, the best way to get rid of unused medications is to return them to a pharmacy for safe disposal,” she said.
The medication roundup is an initiative of PNHR’s Population Health Promotion Unit, in collaboration with Mental Health and Addiction Services in Prairie North and pharmacies in communities across the region. In addition to the November medication roundup blitz, free medication disposal services are available through pharmacies year-round.
