![]() From our friends at Headway Coalition It’s another Take Back Event this Saturday at Tamarac. This annual event and the drop boxes located at various locations throughout the county is part of the efforts by the Headway Coalition to curb youth access to prescription drugs. You know, those pill bottles we sometimes leave it the medicine cabinet then either forget about or maybe fail to keep track of how many are on hand? Headway’s research has revealed the scope of this problem locally so we all appreciate the action they’ve taken to collaborate with law enforcement, health care facilities and other entities in keeping drugs out of the hands of our youth. We asked Headway's Katherine Mater, Project Coordinator for Drug Free Communities, to deliver the info on the initiative Each year the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) promotes the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day through community events held nationwide. This annual event provides an important opportunity to educate communities on proper medication safeguarding measures as well as the importance of safe disposal of unused or expired prescription drugs. In efforts to address the increased ease of access and low perception of risk among Newaygo County youth, each year Newaygo County’s Headway Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition partners with local law enforcement and community agencies to provide this opportunity to residents of Newaygo County and surrounding areas. 43.9% of Newaygo County High School students report it is “easy or very easy” for them to get a Rx drug without a prescription. In addition, 22.3% of Newaygo County High School students report there is “little or no risk” to using Rx drugs without a prescription. It is critical to continue to educate Newaygo County youth, parents, and community members on the dangers of misused prescription drug use…and providing a specific community event that encourages and educates on proper medication disposal not only allows for that opportunity of education, it also gets hundreds of unused/expired medications out of homes and potentially out of the hands of youth in Newaygo County. To ensure Newaygo County residents have access to safe and proper medication disposal opportunities year round, the Headway Coalition also has 14 permanent medication collection sites located throughout the county Over the 10 years of collection from the permanent medication collection sites and 4 years of annual Take Back Events, more than 11,800lbs of unused/expired medications have been collected in Newaygo County. Thank you Ms. Mater. If you’re curious about Headway and their local efforts check out their fb site https://www.facebook.com/headwaynewaygo
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