Attorney General Mark R. Herring is encouraging Virginians to take advantage of Saturday’s National Prescription Drug Takeback Day. Law enforcement agencies, community partners, and members of the Attorney General’s team will be stationed at dozens of locations throughout the Commonwealth to accept unused or expired medications for proper disposal before they can be misused, abused, or accidentally ingested. (Takeback locations in the Roanoke area, which will be open from 10am – 2pm, are listed below.)
“Far too often, unused prescription drugs that are left around the house fall into the hands of someone who could misuse or abuse them, or even accidentally ingest them like a small child or grandchild. Drug Takeback Day is an important opportunity for all Virginians to get these potentially dangerous unused prescription drugs out of their homes,” said Attorney General Mark Herring. “Prescription opioids are extremely powerful medications that can easily lead to dependence, abuse of harder drugs like heroin or fentanyl, or even lead to a fatal overdose. I encourage all Virginians to take advantage of Saturday’s collection locations across the Commonwealth so these drugs don’t end up on our streets. Taking a few minutes out of your weekend can make our homes and communities safer and help combat the devastating opioid epidemic in Virginia.”
There is a strong link between misuse of prescription opioids, opioid addiction, and even subsequent use of heroin once prescriptions become too expensive or are no longer accessible. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse:
Half of young people who used heroin got started by abusing prescription opioids.
One in fifteen individuals who misuse prescription opioid painkillers will try heroin within 10 years.
The number of opioid prescriptions has nearly tripled over the last 25 years, and the United States now accounts for nearly 100 percent of the world’s hydrocodone prescriptions and 81 percent of oxycodone prescriptions.
The number of Americans abusing heroin nearly doubled from 2007 to 2012, with nearly 700,000 now abusing heroin.
In Virginia, abuse and overdose deaths continue to rise:
Heroin overdose deaths have risen more than 830 percent between 2010 and 2016, from 48 to 448.
Fentanyl deaths have risen by over 1185 percent from 2007 to 2016, from 48 to 618.
Prescription opioid overdose deaths have risen 17 percent between 2007 and 2016, from 400 deaths to 469.
The state of Virginia has made combating the heroin and prescription opioid epidemic a top priority, attacking the problem with a multifaceted approach that includes education, prevention, and legislation to encourage reporting of overdoses in progress, expand the availability of naloxone, and expand access to the Prescription Monitoring Program.
Www.HardestHitVA.com has been created as a central resource for prevention, education, and treatment resources, and expanded the OAG’s enforcement efforts against dealers and traffickers, working with state and federal partners to prosecute more than 75 heroin/opioid cases involving more than 375 pounds of heroin which is approximately 1.7 million daily doses with an estimated street value of $16.9 million.
