BECKELY -
West Virginia has the nation's highest death rate from drug overdoses. Most of them involve prescription pills. But some people are doing what they can to put a stop to the growing problem.
They were dropped off by the dozen, zip-lock bags and even garbage bags full of medications.All in the name of getting prescription pills into the right hands, the professional who can properly get rid of them.
"They tested water supplies in different areas and they can find trace amounts of medicine so we need to make people area that it can stay in the water system so we shouldn't be flushing them," Julie Brown,WVU Pharmacy Student said.
The drop off doesn't accept all forms of pills. Controlled substances are off limits to accept and identifying an unmarked pill is a lot easier than you'd expect.
Let's say the drop box workers get a bag full of unknown pills, all they have to do is look it them up on an iPhone App and know these are blood pressure and diabetes medications.
"You can go in and ID the drugs. You just have to write what's on the side of the drugs and the color of it. We will probably use it a lot," Brown said.
Brown said the most common drop off is often due to a change in medication. One man from Beckley tells us that is why he is making the drop.
"I had some medication I wanted to turn in and get rid of. They changed my medication and I had to get rid of the old one," William White, Beckley said.
White said this is a step in the right direction to help clean-up the community's pill problem. Brown agrees she said disposal days get drugs into the right hands. All you have to do is look for the brown box.
For more information on drug disposal click here.
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