At Sinclair Community College, helping the community is an extremely important aspect of the college’s goals. Recently, a pill receptacle has been installed as part of the drug take-back program in order to improve the college as well as the larger community of Dayton.
You may be wondering – what is the drug take-back program? And what is a pill receptacle?
The drug take-back program is a program where a space is created for safe and convenient prescription medication disposal. Additionally, its aim is to educate individuals and communities alike about how this impacts them, how it impacts the environment and how medication can be abused.
A pill receptacle is a place where you can safely dispose of expired pill medication in a responsible way. Not only does this help out the community by reducing the number of drugs on the streets, but it also aids the environment by not having medication being disposed of in the waterways.
Unfortunately, many drugs are being disposed of in ways that are harmful for the environment.
For example, flushing pills down the toilet is a very common way of disposal. However, it has now been found that this can cause the drugs to infiltrate rivers, lakes and even the public water supply. Due to this problem, it is absolutely necessary that pill medication is being disposed of properly.
Sinclair Community College’s brand-new pill receptacle can be found on the first floor of Building 7, right next to the police department and the bookstore.
If you see the receptacle, you will notice that it explicitly says that no medication in liquid form may be disposed of in it. However, it is still possible to get rid of your liquid medication in a safe way – if you need to dispose of medication that is in liquid form.
The Sinclair Police Department (right next to the pill receptacle) provides packets that you may put your medication in. Then, you may dispose of it in the pill receptacle.
This pill receptacle is not only available to Sinclair students, staff and faculty, it is also available to the general public. Many organizations are beginning to take part in the rise of drug take-back programs.
It is important for the community to know that there are resources for them; this pill receptacle is a great way to help the community of Dayton and to aid in providing a healthy, convenient way to dispose of pills.
Anwen Harris
Reporter