T-L/photo GAGE VOTA The multiple facilitators who were instrumental in making Drug Take Back Day at Sam’s Club in St. Clairsville on April 27 include, from left, Deputy Ryan Stewart of the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department, Sam’s Pharmacy Manager Linda Chapman, Wendy Ware of the Belmont County Partners and Prevention Coalition, Jenna Nelson of East Central Ohio Educational Service Center, Jessica Donda and Linda Mehl, both of the Belmont County Health Department.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Local law enforcement and health officials participated in National Drug Take Back Day on April 27 with a collection at Sam’s Club.

Drug Take Back Day is a national initiative to allow the public to safely dispose of unused and unneeded medication. The collection takes place twice a year on the last Saturdays of April and October. Permanent take back locations are located throughout the county in various pharmacies and police departments. Last week’s initiative was a group effort by the Belmont County Sheriff’s Department, Sam’s Club, the Belmont County Partners and Prevention Coalition, East Central Ohio Educational Service Center and the Belmont County Health Department.

“This is part of our Harm Reduction program that we have. We have Deterra Bags for safe medication disposal,” Linda Mehl of the Belmont County Health Department said while speaking on the health department’s role in the event.

According to the official Deterra website, “Deterra Pouches are proven to destroy unwanted and expired medications safely and permanently, making them unavailable for misuse, theft or accidental ingestion.”

Mehl added, “You really shouldn’t flush your drugs, they should be disposed of safely.”

The Belmont County Health Department was also distributing naloxone, often known as Narcan, available through Project Dawn, which stands for Deaths Avoided With Naloxone.

Wendy Ware of the Belmont County Partners and Preventions Coalition said,

“We are here today to help take back medication that might be in homes that could lead to illegal use or abuse of prescription medications and make sure it doesn’t end up in the wrong hands.”

She added that the dropoffs are completely anonymous with no questions asked or paperwork required. In addition to helping with take backs, both the Belmont County Health Department and the Belmont County Partners and Prevention Coalition handed out pamphlets with information regarding resources to opioid addiction.