WASHBURN COUNTY -- Almost every home has one—that cabinet or drawer filled with prescriptions and other medications. If yours is like most, it probably contains a few things you didn’t know you had or no longer needed, and that can have serious consequences.
More than 2.9 million opioid prescriptions are written every year in Wisconsin. That’s right, 2.9 million! And when unused and expired medications start to pile up, it’s easy for them to fall into the wrong hands. Far too often, medications that get overlooked cause unintended harm or become a gateway to misuse.
Luckily, Wisconsinites are known for taking care of each other. And that’s precisely what we’ve been doing. Wisconsin has continually been a leader in collecting unused and expired medications during national drug take back days ranking second only to California. In the past, upwards of 100,000 pounds of medications have been collected in a single year. That’s the same weight as a herd (66+ average sized) holsteins that can be seen while driving through Wisconsin communities. But the most important part of the collection effort is a statistic impossible to measure—the lives potentially saved with every safe disposal. And make no mistake—safe disposal saves lives.
This year, we are calling on more Wisconsinites to do their part to help protect our families, friends, and great communities.
How do you get started?
Easy! Just open your medicine cabinet, gather what you no longer need, remove or cover up prescription or personal information, and put them in a zip-top bag.
What next?
Simply choose a safe disposal option that’s best for you. This fall, on October 26th, Healthy WashCo and Change In The Youth (CITY youth coalition) are partnering with the DEA and Spooner Police Department to host a County-wide drug take-back event at the Spooner Police Department Community room from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm for all County residents. If you can’t make it, many permanent drug drop boxes are available year-round across the state in convenient locations like pharmacies and police stations.
In Washburn County, there are four permanent drug drop box locations (hours vary by location):
- Birchwood Police Department
- Minong Police Department
- Spooner Police Department
- Washburn County Sheriff’s Office
In addition, this year’s event will feature an opportunity for safe sharps disposal, education surrounding sharps disposal, and sharps containers will be available at no cost to community members.This additional offering to the Washburn County community is made possible through partnership with Spooner Health. To dispose of medical sharps (needles) at this event, they must be in a sharps container, or a thick-walled plastic detergent container. Sharps in other containers will not be accepted for safety reasons.
Spooner Health Emergency Department offers sharps disposal 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Used sharps must be secured in approved hard plastic containers prior to being accepted for disposal. Laundry detergent containers are recommended.
If access or transportation to one of those locations is an issue, contact Healthy WashCo for information on receiving free at-home drug deactivation kits or mailers. Healthy WashCo also has free medication lock boxes available.
If you’d like to learn more about safe medication disposal and all available options, visit doseofrealitywi.gov.
HealthyWashCo.org has local information regarding drug and alcohol misuse prevention and mental health awareness. To learn how you can help your community, go to www.healthywashco.org or follow Healthy WashCo on Facebook at WashCo Prevention
Last Update: Oct 23, 2024 9:26 am CDT
