The Eunice News Staff Report
The STL PROUD Coalition is scheduling a prescription drug Take Back Day from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday at the Eunice City Hall parking lot.
The Coalition already offers 24-hour, seven-day-a-week prescription drug depository the Eunice Police Department. The same service is offered at the Opelousas Police Department.
The Rev. Dale Fontenot, Coalition director, recently told the Eunice Rotary Club that prescription drug abuse is a serious problem.
“The federal government is trying to decrease the growing expansive use of opioid-based pharmaceuticals,” he said.
The Take Back Day is an opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs, a coalition news release stated.
“Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs,” the news release stated.
Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet, the news release stated.
In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines – flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash – both pose potential safety and health hazards, it stated.
STL PROUD Coalition (ST. Landry Preventing Rx drugs and Underage Drinking) is made up of members of the St. Landry Parish Children & Youth Services Planning Board. The coalition includes about 20 non-profit organizations, state agencies, local municipal governments, and businesses which service the needs of children and youth in St. Landry Parish.
For more information about the coalition or the Take Back Day, call 337-308-7051.