Lloydminster residents are being encouraged to participate in a medication round up campaign starting on Monday. The medication round up campaign coincides with National Addictions Week, which yllMyHome says is to help focus on the potential link between prescription drugs and addictions.
“You don’t necessarily need them in your home and medication that you’re done with or you’re not using, having it in your home, it just ups the odds of the potential of someone taking it incorrectly. That could be through an accident, it could be intentional but if it’s not there, it decreases the odds of that happening,” says Bonita Brick, a member of yllMyHome.
Pharmacist Kalie Stasiuk adds, “the one main thing is that other people can get into them, that of course can happen and then we have some patients who started a new medication or a new dose of a medication but still have their old one sitting around in the house, there could be some confusion and they might accidentally end up taking something that they’re not meant to be on anymore, that could cause some adverse effects.”
Stasiuk says there is many reason why people may have left over medication.
“One of the most common reasons we see is people actually stop taking their antibiotics early, so they’ll have a couple days leftover. Another main one is expired medication, they’ve just had it for so many years an it’s sitting on their shelf expired. We also find that after surgeries or any dental work, doctors will prescribe some pain medication and the patient might not need all of those pain medications.”
Brick says you can take them back to the pharmacy you purchased them from year round however this campaign serves as a yearly reminder for people.
“If you choose too, I always think it’s best just to take your personal information off the bottles, so if it’s a prescription just take a marker and cross off your name and then just tuck them into a paper bag or a plastic bag and take them back to the pharmacy you purchased them from and they can dispose of them safely.”
If you or someone you know is being affected by misuse of prescription or over-the-counter medications, you can contact the Prairie North Health Region Mental Health and Addiction Services at 306-820-6250 or call HealthLine at 811.