For more than ten years, the Drug Enforcement Administration has organized National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. It’s a safe way to dispose of expired or unwanted medications. Groups across the state are collecting old prescription drugs Friday and Saturday.
It’s a safe way to dispose of expired or unwanted medications. Groups across the state are collecting old prescription drugs Friday and Saturday.
A majority of people who abuse prescription drugs obtained them from family and friends – and the home medicine cabinet. To remove the hazard, groups will accept tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription drugs. Liquids and needles will not be accepted. Vaping devices and cartridges are allowed,
The collections are also meant to prevent unused prescription drugs ending up in the trash, where they can be retrieved and abused or illegally sold. It also helps to prevent unused drugs from being flushed, contaminating the water supply.
Most Sheriff’s offices will take part including Oceana Police Department in Wyoming County and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department and Crab Orchard Pharmacy. Drugs can also be dropped off at the Charleston Police Department and several pharmacies across the capitol city.
Most Sheriff’s offices will take part including in Raleigh County as well as the Oceana Police Department in Wyoming County. Drugs can also be dropped off at the Charleston Police Department and several pharmacies across the capitol city.
The DEA has created a collection site locator where you can find a location near you.
A state bill would no longer change West Virginia law to require prescriptions for cold medicines that are used to make methamphetamine.
Instead, lawmakers tweaked the proposal to cut in half how much medicine someone can buy each year.
The state House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday amended the proposal dealing with pseudoephedrine medications.
The changes would limit customers to 24 grams of products like Sudafed yearly, instead of the current 48-gram limit. The bill would create a meth offender registry and make previous drug offenders get prescriptions for some cold medications.
The Senate easily passed the original prescription-only bill on Feb. 18.
The House would need to pass the amended bill and the Senate would need to agree on changes for the proposal to become law. The legislative session ends March 8.
Senators put the highly anticipated prescription only pseudoephedrine bill to a vote Tuesday, but only after receiving a last minute amendment on the floor.
Senate Judiciary Chair Corey Palumbo moved to amend the bill to address someone buying cold medicine in another state and bringing it back to West Virginia.
The amendment allows a court hearing before being tried on a drug charge when a person without a prior drug conviction is caught with less than 3.6 grams, or the federal daily limit.
That person must then prove to a judge they bought the drug legally in another state and intended to use it lawfully for medicinal purposes.
A person caught with pseudoephedrine who does not have a prescription is allowed to go through the court process just one time, avoiding a drug charge, but Senator Evan Jenkins, who proposed a similar amendment Monday, wanted to know why the Judiciary Chair had originally proposed his change.
“This allows one shot, you can get out of it one time and beyond that you’re on notice,” Palumbo replied.
“You should know beyond that, that’s not something you should be doing anymore. You’re amendment would have allowed that to occur on multiple occasions.”
Palumbo’s amendment was accepted unanimously.
Before the vote, the Judiciary Chair said two years ago a similar bill was defeated by the chamber, but since, some things have changed.
First, there is a wider availability of the conversion resistant product that will continue to be available without a prescription. Second, he said the number of meth labs being discovered in the state has drastically increased, up from 229 in 2011 to 533 in 2013.
“Meth has become such a scourge in our society, such a pervasive problem that reaches all corners of the state that this is the action we need to take to eradicate these labs. It’s the best thing we can do” he said.
“Will it get rid of them totally, absolutely not, but I think it’s been shown in the other states that have tried this, the meth labs have been significantly reduced in those states.”
Senator Clark Barnes rose in opposition of the legislation, saying he’s not against reducing the number of meth labs, but had many other concerns with the bill.
“The number one problem with drugs in West Virginia is prescription pain medication,” he said. “It certainly doesn’t take a great deal of thought to realize that when you’re number one problem is already in the hands of the medical community then we may not be solving the problem by turning the meth problem over to (them).”
Barnes also took issue with the discontinuation of the NPLEX system in West Virginia, a database that tracks pseudoephedrine purchases across state lines, and the effect misdemeanor convictions may have on gun ownership rights, which Palumbo tried to address with his amendment.
Still, the bill passed 25 to 9, but not on party lines as anticipated.
Republican Senators Jenkins and Chris Walters voted to support the bill, unlike most members of their party, while Democratic Senator Truman Chafin voted against it.
