Maconites turn in unused drugs at local hospital

Piedmont Macon and law enforcement collected unused prescription drugs Saturday morning for safe disposal to prevent the consumption of harmful substances or possible drug misuse.

Four large trash bags worth of expired prescriptions were dropped off by community members at Piedmont’s north Macon hospital as part of its biannual National Take Back Day, which is organized by the Drug Enforcement Administration. 

The 28th National Take Back day in April brought in 620,000 pounds of medication from 4,590 sites across the country.

The healthcare provider partnered with the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office and the DEA, which will send off the pharmaceuticals to be incinerated.
“We try to do everything we can do to prevent, not drug diversion, which is someone taking other people’s medications, but drug misuse, which leads to addiction,” said Cheryl Stapleton, director of pharmacy at Piedmont Macon.

Stapleton said while most expired drugs lose potency, some antibiotics when taken expired can be harmful. Children can also get their hands on old medication and using a controlled substance or narcotic can lead to addiction, she added.

She said most visitors came because they were unsure of how to dispose of their drugs or had extra medication from a dead relative.

Piedmont collected bottles of drugs dating back to 1955. One woman was so eager to dispose of her medication she showed up on Thursday and, upon learning she had arrived on the wrong day, was the first one in line on Saturday.

Although flyers for the event noted vape pens would also be collected, nobody dropped any off.