Sheriff’s Office distributes drug disposal pouches

Jun 02, 2023

Using opioid settlement funds, Henry County Sheriff's Office offers safe drug disposal

Jun. 6, 2023 11:27 am

MT. PLEASANT — Henry County Sheriff's Office began distributing drug disposal pouches to the public at the Healthy Henry County Communities Stride into Summer Family Walk this past Saturday.

These drug disposal pouches, which are free to the public, came to the Henry County community thanks to funding the county received in 2022 as part of a settlement with opioid distributors concerning the nationwide opioid epidemic.

According to a news release from the sheriff's office, "The Henry County Sheriff's Office was tasked with managing, disbursing, and recording the funds utilized. The primary purpose of the opioid settlement funds is to promote opioid prevention and/or treatment."

"We work with the supervisors, and we're maintaining that grant funding reimbursement," Henry County Sheriff Rich McNamee said. "This is one way in which we've chosen to use that money to thwart opioid issues in our county."

According to McNamee the Sheriff's office handed out many of the disposal pouches at the Stride into Summer event, and they will continue to make the available to the public.

"Our plan is to branch out," McNamee said. "We’ve already had some contact with other local law enforcement. For example, the Mt. Pleasant Police Department has some of the disposal kits in their office they can hand out."

According to McNamee, those interested in the disposal kits can also acquire them at Iowa Department of Public Health, Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, and ADDS.

They also will continue to distribute the kits at community events throughout the year.

While some members of the public have posed questions asking why these aren't simply given out with opioid prescriptions, McNamee assures the public that this is only the beginning stages of the program.

"I understand their concerns," he said.

As the entity in charge of the funding from the settlement, the available of these disposal bags started with the Sheriff's office but have already began reaching out for expansion.

"Our plans include contacting the pharmacies and saying, ‘hey, here's some free suppose of kit that you can hand out when you get out of prescription of these medications …," McNamee said.

According to a news release from the Sheriff's Office, "These Deterra drug disposal … are small, sealable pouches that have a simple three-step process to deactivating and disposing drugs. The pouches will destroy pills, small amounts of liquid or patches."

To use the product, individuals must place the medication in the pouch, fill it with the recommended amount of water, and seal it.

After following those steps, the medication is considered deactivated and rendered safe to dispose of in any normal trash receptacle.

"We encourage people when they're done using a medication to dispose of it so that's just not sitting around being vulnerable for abuse," McNamee said. "We discourage you from just leaving them in your cabinet because a friend or neighbor can be over and use your bathroom and go through your medicine cabinet. Take that bottle of pills and you might not notice it for six months."

According to McNamee, some of the struggles with the opioid epidemic include these leftover prescriptions either being abused by the person they’re prescribed to, being given to someone else to abuse, or someone stealing the leftover medication.

While McNamee acknowledged that it used to be recommended to flush these medications, that is no longer the case.

"They get into our groundwater, and it's not good for our environment," he said.

For McNamee, the important part is simply ensuring these medications are disposed of properly.

"If people aren't going to use the drug disposal kits, they can still bring them into the office and use the drug drop-box in our lobby," McNamee said, "It looks like a mailbox, except ours is white … We've had it for a couple of years now, and anybody at anytime of the day can come in and bring any kind of medication unless it's a liquid or a sharp, and they can dispose of them in that box for no cost anonymously."

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