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ZEBULON - The Pike County Resource Network, a Georgia Family Connection Collaborative, met recently to recognize leaders in our community who are part of a Prescription Drug Safe Storage and Disposal Awareness Initiative. Leaders shown in this photo include Pharmacist Ken Gaskins from Zebulon Pharmacy, Pike County School Superintendent Dr. Michael Duncan on the behalf of the Pike County School System, Sheriff Jimmy Thomas on behalf of the Pike County Sheriff’s Office, and John Bringuel of the Council on Alcohol and Drugs, and the Director Michael Powell on behalf of the Pike Community Resource Network.
“We started this initiative last year with projects where students at the high school made videos about the dangers of prescription drug use. Another part of the initiative is to make senior adults aware of the issue,” said Pike Community Resource Network director Michael Powell.
Powell said that Sheriff Thomas and the Pike County Sheriff’s Office have been very helpful with this initiative. There is a box that looks like a mailbox between the Jail and the Sheriff’s Office entrance where citizens can take old medications and safely dispose of them.
Pharmacist Ken Gaskins is helping raise awareness by placing flyers in the bags of certain types of medicines when they are distributed at City Pharmacy. “Ken gave us some very practical advice on how to best distribute these flyers,” said Powell. “They will also be distributed throughout the community. This is a community partnership and this is what we do - we all work together.”
Sheriff Thomas said that reports of missing medications have increased dramatically of late. He said that while the drugs are often thought to be stolen by outsiders, it turns out that those taking these prescription medicines from the home are often family members. “When people have these high powered medications in their home, they often don’t consider that they are a risk to their children and other relatives. I can’t tell you how many calls we get a month where medications are reported missing. It’s an ever growing problem,” he said.
John Bringuel of the Council on Alcohol and Drugs said that having a lock box like the Medicine Safe for prescription medications will help combat this problem. “I’m heartbroken when I hear the number of kids dying from prescription drugs and 70% of them get them from friends and family,” he said. The Medicine Safe is available through the Pike Community Resource Network with a percentage of the proceeds going to help combat this problem.
For information on how to join the initiative, contact Mike Powell of the The Pike County Resource Network at 770-567-2930. Medicine lock boxes may be ordered at www.addictivedrugs.org/rxsafes.