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A coalition in Marshfield wants your old medicine. The goal: to reduce groundwater pollution and keep young people safe. Michele Skalicky explains…

The Team for Education and Assistance with Community Health or TEACH Coalition and the Webster County Sheriff’s Department want to make sure old medicine is disposed of properly. So, they’re holding the Take Back event from 3 to 7 pm today (12/16) in Marshfield.
Jeannie Moreno, the coalition’s chairperson, says they feel it’s important to get outdated drugs out of home medicine cabinets…

"One, because we don't want them to be flushed down the toilet or down the sink because they're starting to show up in our water supply. Two, we feel this was a great time because the holidays are coming up, and a lot of young kids and youth will be going to visit grandpa and grandma, and we just want to be sure those old meds are disposed of properly."

According to the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, 12 to 17-year-olds abuse prescription drugs more than they abuse ecstacy, crack/cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine combined.
And 58% of teens surveyed in the 2008 Partnership Attitude Tracking Survey said that home medicine cabinets are the most popular source for teens to obtain prescription and over the counter drugs…

"What they do, they're just taking all the meds they can find and they pour them, like in a bowl and just pop something, so they're not aware of what they're taking and how it's going to affect them."

Any kind of medicine, except for narcotics, is being accepted at the Take Back event, and anyone 18 and older may drop them off—you don’t have to be a resident of Webster County.
The drugs are being accepted from 3 to 7 pm today at the Webster County Extension Center, located next to Marshfield City Hall.
The medicine will be incinerated by the Webster County Sheriff’s Department.
Everyone who takes their medicine to the event will receive a bookmark describing safe ways to dispose of old medicine at home.
For KSMU News, I’m Michele Skalicky.
 

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