Surrender Your Stockpile

How many bottles of old pain killers do you have hiding in your medicine cabinet? That's a question most people don't think twice about until some unsuspecting addict finds their way into it.

As compliant patients most of us gladly fill our prescriptions for opiate pain killers after a surgical procedure but actually consume only a few, leaving the rest to sit unobtrusively in the medicine cabinet. Unbeknown to most of us, our medicine cabinets have actually been flashing targets for drug addicts waiting to consume the left overs.

For those of you who think this can't happen to you - think again! A few years ago my best friend was suffering from diabetic neuropthy and would have periods of severe pain. Her physician prescribed Methadone, a synthetic opiod, which she only took for her most severe moments. For the most part, the bottle remained in the medicine cabinet until the day a new housekeeper showed up.

Upon emerging from the bathroom, the housekeeper was suddenly found to be incoherent and unable to get up off the floor. Thinking that the housekeeper was having a stroke, my best friend called an ambulance. It wasn't until the ambulance arrived that the empty bottle of Methadone was discovered in the trash.

Methadone is an extremely potent pain killer and is also used in the detoxification process for heroine addicts. Unfortunately for my best friend, she had no idea the new housekeeper was an addict. The housekeeper did recover from her overdose but never to clean houses again.

As incidents like this one have become more prevalent, police departments across the country are setting up events to "take-back" narcotics and potentially harmful medications that no longer serve a useful purpose in our medicine cabinets. Everyone is encouraged to surrender your stockpile to prevent these medications from falling into the hands of addicts, drug dealers or overly curious children and teenagers.

For information on how you can safely "Surrender Your Stockpile", contact your local law enforcement office.