It is not unusual to find expired or leftover prescriptions, or over the counter medicines, sitting on a shelf somewhere inside a home.
On Tuesday, Shoppers Drug Mart on Cassells Street in North Bay was the location for the 6th Annual Medication Drug Drop-Off Day. People were encouraged to bring their medications, vitamins, herbal medicines and ointments for safe disposal.
Pat Cliche representing the North Bay and Area Drug Strategy as well as the Stay on Your Feet coalition, explains the dangers of keeping unused medications in the home.
“Some people may take them when they have medications that are similar, so they end up double dosing, which could cause side effects such as falls, especially in seniors. Or other people may decide they want to use them even though it's not their prescription which can be very dangerous,“ said Cliche.
“And it’s safer for our environment. We don’t want people disposing of them in their garbage cans, or flushing them down the toilet."
Within just a few hours, the collection boxes were starting to fill up.
Fran Laframboise of the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit and a member of the Stay On Your Feet Nipissing Parry Sound Coalition said the days is all about awareness..
“Medication is one of the nine steps for Stay On Your Feet. So bringing back the medications is really important so you don’t make a mistake and double up on a medication that has had a dose change either up or down. Some of those medications if you take too much you can have dizziness and be off-balance. So you want to make sure you take precautions,” said Laframboise.
“Also, you don’t want it to get into the hands of someone who shouldn’t have it, either children or youth. And you don’t want to keep it in case somebody finds out that you might have narcotics in the house and have a possible break-in.”
It is one more way to prevent the abuse and misuse of medication in the home.
“This initiative was started by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police a number of years ago. We want to make sure everybody is safe. So we don’t want kids finding medications at home, we don’t want people mistakenly taking the wrong medications," said Special Constable John Schultz with the North Bay Police Service.
"And it’s also environmentally smart to turn them in and have them disposed of properly. We jump on board every year as an important reminder of how to get rid of medicines safely. We don’t want them hitting the black market, we want them disposed of properly.”
Lise Carbonneau has made it a practice to rid her home of unused or expired medication.
“The expired pills that people are no longer using should be disposed of in a proper way, not in our water systems or garbage. It should be taken care of by pharmacies. I truly believe in that, and I am one that has regularly done that for our household. I think it’s a wonderful opportunity.”
Anyone who may have missed the drop-off day can still bring unused or expired medicines to their local pharmacy.
“We want to make sure the community knows you can always take your medication back to your pharmacy every day of the year,” said Cliche.
During the four hour period:
- 61.2 pounds of medications were collected (28.4 pounds more than 2017)
- 8 pounds of medication cardboard or packaging (2017 packaging and bottles were counted together for a total of 15.4 pounds)
- 25.8 pounds of medication bottles in 2018
- 1 pound in syringes in 2018
Total for 2017 43.8 pounds Total for 2018 96 pounds
