When your children are very young, you remember to keep medications and other dangers away from their reach. But did you know that the importance of safe medication disposal continues, even when you no longer have toddlers underfoot? No matter the ages of people in your household, or even if you live alone, disposing of medications properly is the only sure way to prevent dangerous risks.
Safe Medication Disposal for Drug Abuse Prevention
Prescription drug abuse continues to rise in the United States, being one of our nation’s most significant problems. In the Northwest alone, about 11 percent of teens abuse prescription drugs for non-medical reasons. These abuses of prescribed medicines often lead to medical emergencies and fatalities. When young people abuse drugs, most get them from friends or families, usually from a medicine cabinet like the one in your kitchen or bathroom.
This is why safe medication disposal holds such great importance. Today’s pharmacies help with the growing problem by providing safe medication disposal kiosks. Walgreens safe medication disposal program offers one such example. You can dispose of your medications through the Walgreens safe medication disposal program, simply by dropping your leftover doses into the kiosk.
By using your Walgreens safe medication disposal program or another safe medication disposal method, you also help prevent other problems, including:
- Accidental poisoning
- Medicines in the environment
- Substance abuse from medication in your disposed garbage
Safe Disposal Prevents Accidents and Environmental Problems
Safe disposal of your medications keeps children, seniors, and pets from accidentally using those leftover doses. Prescription medications lead to many poisonings each year, as evidenced by the number of calls to poison control centers. Washington state alone receives almost 40,000 such calls each year, involving young children who accidentally swallowed prescribed medications.
Reducing medicines released into the environment is equally as important. Most individuals improperly dispose of their unused or expired medications in the toilet or household garbage. But doing so sends these chemicals into waters, or in the case of trash-disposed drugs, into the hands of people who should not take those drugs. Only through a take-back program like that of Walgreens can you truly, safely dispose of your medications.
Finding the Help Your Loved One Needs in Idaho
Idaho addiction treatment centers provide the help people from all over the Northwest need, when it comes to prescription medication abuse, alcohol use disorder and other substance use disorders. If your young adult or teen has started abusing prescription medications or other substances, now is the time to help them start fresh. By putting this substance use behind them, your teen or young adult gets back on track for a brighter future. The Walgreens safe medication disposal program is another example of how we can help those struggling with these issues.
Substance abuse programs for teens and young adults include:
- Family group therapies
- Family involvement
- Intensive outpatient treatment
- Outpatient programs
- Help for ages teen to 25
At Zelus Recovery in Idaho, your teen or young adult gets the chance to reset their life onto the right track. This help includes the whole family, leading everyone to a brighter future. Call Zelus Recovery now at 208.518.0797 for more details about our programs and how important safe medication disposal is to recovery.
