Cole County Sheriff’s Department holding drug take-back event

The Cole County Sheriff’s Department is hosting a prescription drug take-back event Saturday.

From 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., anyone can turn in unwanted prescription medications for safe disposal.

The event will be held at the West Region Fire Protection District’s Station 3 at 609 Apache Trail.

Missouri is the only state in the U.S. without a prescription drug monitoring program.

State lawmakers proposed two bills this pass legislative session to regulate prescription drugs, but both failed.

Without a drug monitoring program, the sheriff’s office said drug take back events are aimed to prevent prescriptions drug abuse before it becomes a dangerous addiction.

“Prescription drugs are highly abused, so we’re trying to get them off the streets,” Capt. John Wheeler said. “And also, we don’t want people flushing them down the toilet cause it’s bad for our environment.”

A 2013 study shows children age 12 to 17 abuse prescription prescription drugs more than ecstasy, heroin, cocaine and meth combined, according to Wheeler.

“Some people don’t think that it’s abuse since they’re prescribed, but if you’re taking them and you’re not supposed to take them–if they’re prescription drugs and are not prescribed to you, then you’re abusing them,” Wheeler said.

The number of unintentional deaths from prescription painkillers quadrupled from 1999 to 2010, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

And the number of people who tried heroin after abusing prescription medicine grew significantly.

Wheeler said he hoped hosting drug take-back events often can help break the cycle.

“With people that have dependency issues already, what we don’t want them to do is end up getting hooked on them and then using that as a stepping stone to go on to worse drugs out there,” Wheeler said.

The Cole County Sheriff’s Office collected about 18,000 pills at its last drug take-back event.