MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII -- Participants nationwide are taking a stand together, Sept. 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., to help stop prescription drug abuse.
Marine Corps Base Hawaii will be among the thousands of locations for National Take-Back Initiative Day, when communities can drop off their old medicines for safe disposal. Prescription pills, liquids and all forms of expired medicine will be collected at a drop-off point near the Marine Corps Exchange at Mokapu Mall.
“We want to take all the drugs back,” said Alton Arakaki, a manager for the MCB Hawaii Substance Abuse Counseling Center. “In particular, we want to take back opiates and ones that can cause dizziness or drowsiness. Even pain relief medicines, including over-the-counter aspirin, can cause liver damage if someone takes too many tablets or takes too many expired.”
Arakaki and other representatives from Naval Health Clinic Hawaii and the Drug Enforcement Agency will be at the drop-off point to collect the medicines, including expired over-the-counter drugs.
“It’s all done anonymously,” said Robin Dinlocker, assistant special agent in charge of the Honolulu District Office of the DEA. “We put (what’s collected) in the box, weigh it and then take it to be incinerated.”
Arakaki and Dinlocker said because of the secured incineration off-base, people can drop off their medicines in the original prescription bottle or separately in another container, such as a sandwich bag.
Last year more than 35 pounds of old prescription medication were gathered at the Kaneohe Bay drop-off point, with a DEA agent sealing collection boxes and safely disposing the items. The DEA has nationally conducted the take-back initiative since 2005, according to the 2015 news release about the event from the DEA’s website.
“The DEA saw an increase in prescription drug abuse, from police and emergency reports,” Dinlocker said. “We wanted to do an initiative option to give people a way to properly dispose their medicines.”
Both Arakaki and Dinlocker said conventional disposal methods are potentially hazardous. Old medicines that go down the sink or are flushed down the toilet risk contaminating local water sources, Dinlocker said.
Arakaki said throwing away medicines in the trash is challenging as the old prescriptions may be dug out. Arakaki said if someone is trying to dispose of medicine in the trash, it should be mixed with other unappetizing waste like coffee grinds or cat litter.
Outside of the collection days, the DEA is investigating other methods of gathering expired medication. New regulations that were implemented in October 2014 by the DEA allow the agency to nationally work with hospitals and pharmacies for voluntary collection of old prescriptions.
“Here in Hawaii, the Narcotics Enforcement Division is working on establishing drop boxes, possibly in hospitals and pharmacies, and regularly servicing them for safe disposal,” Dinlocker said.
Arakaki said he’s encouraging Marines and Sailors living in the barracks to participate, since they are among the more likely to have prescriptions but few have participated in the Kaneohe Bay take back. It is risky to leave expired prescription medication at home, Arakaki said, especially in a bathroom medicine cabinet.
“The bathroom is where people are most likely to be left alone,” he said. “Some people don’t count their medicine pills, so might not realize things are gone at first.”
If people can’t head to the K-Bay drop-off point, there are several other confirmed Oahu drop-off locations including Honolulu Hale, the Navy Exchange at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam and Schofield Barracks.
Arakaki said after illegal drugs like marijuana and cocaine, prescription medicines are the third type of drug most commonly abused in the Marine Corps. Service members who take controlled substances without a prescription or who give it to someone else can be investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service or the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.
“We have robust drug testing on base,” Arakaki said. “We get results in as little as two to three days from Tripler. The testing is all computerized and get results pretty quickly. If someone tries to mask (illicit drug use), it’s very difficult to do.”
Dinlocker said her office has joined forces successfully with their military colleagues and hopes this year’s take back efforts run just as well.
“Everyone has to join together to combat the problem, on and off base,” Dinlocker said. “We can all do our part to assist in this.”
For details about the Drug Enforcement Agency’s national campaign, see http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/.