INDIANA COUNTY, Pa.–Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced a new initiative today relating to the abuse of prescription drugs.
The Office of Attorney General will supply 300,000 drug deactivation and disposal pouches to 12 Pennsylvania counties.
The counties chosen are ones that have been hit the hardest by the opioid epidemic. They include: Blair, Butler, Cambria, Erie, Fayette, Indiana, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Lehigh, Luzerne, Mercer and Montour
The drug pouches deactivate up to 45 unwanted and unused pills when warm water is added and the pouches are sealed, according to the release. The pouches can then be disposed of in the trash.
“80 percent of heroin addicts start with the abuse of prescription drugs, and the vast majority of those who misuse these drugs got them from friends, relatives or a medicine cabinet,” Attorney General Shapiro said in the release. “The communities hit hardest by this epidemic have too often been ignored. We hear their pain and today, we’re bringing the fight into small towns and local pharmacies across the state to help.”
The release states that 278 pharmacies will provide pouches to their customers — and anyone who requests them — that receive a schedule II narcotic (Percocet, oxycodone, fentanyl, among others).
A full pharmacy listing can be seen here.
