MORGANTOWN W.Va. –- Morgantown community members are invited to participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on April 26th, an initiative to reduce access to unused, unneeded, and expired prescription medications.
Executive Director for the West Virginia First Foundation, Jonathan Board, said the initiative, hosted nationwide by the Drug Enforcement Administration, aims to lessen the number of individuals who fall into drug misuse.
“We want to help and amplify this effort to reduce access to these unused medications [and] really help prevent misuse before it starts,” he said on WAJR’s “Talk of the Town.”
Individuals can bring any unwanted medications to six different Morgantown locations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, April 26th. These include the Pierpont Landing Pharmacy, the Kroger Pharmacy at Suncrest Town Center, the Villages at Heritage Point, the Monongalia County Sheriff’s Department, the Morgantown Police Department and the University Police Department on WVU’s campus.
“[Drug Take Back Day] really focuses on safely disposing of those unused and expired prescription medications that we sometimes find in our house. It’s a simple and powerful opportunity for all of our friends and neighbors to protect their families and their community,” Board said.
This event comes just days after Governor Patrick Morrisey signed Lauren’s Law, a law inspired by 26-year-old Lauren Cole, a Morgantown native who died from drugs laced with fentanyl in 2020.
The law will alter the minimum and maximum prison sentences for those arrested on fentanyl-related charges and remove the option for suspended sentences and home confinement.
Board said the law serves a great purpose in the efforts of the West Virginia First Foundation, which was created to prevent substance use in the state and empower those in recovery.
“With Lauren’s Law adding those enhancements for the delivery of fentanyl and increasing penalties for the transportation into the state, we see that as really vitally important,” he said.
Part of the foundation’s efforts includes distributing money back into the state through grants for opioid settlements. Board said nearly 90 grants were approved this grant cycle, and now the organization is looking to continue innovating their work.
“We’ll continue to grant, but we want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to continue this trend. Frankly, it’s a good trend, a downward trend of overdose[s] here in the state of West Virginia,” he said.
Board said the foundation will continue its work through a new committee.
“We’re launching some committee work through a New Horizons committee with a focus that’s going to look to innovation research and emerging strategies to fight against substance abuse disorder,” he said.
For more information on Prescription Drug Take Back Day, visit dea.com/takebackday.