Berrien Health Department Warns About Prescription Drug Abuse

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The Berrien County Health Department is reminding everyone about the dangers of prescription drug abuse as a Drug Take Back Day approaches on Saturday. Berrien County Health Department prevention supervisor Lisa Peeples-Hurst tells WSJM News the most common kind of drug abuse involves substances that were obtained legally.

“Because prescription drugs are easy to get,” Peeples Hurst said. “There may be several prescriptions in a particular household, and therefore, they’re accessible, particularly for children and teenagers.”

Peeples Hurst says some patients think their medication is safe just because it’s legal.

“A lot of the cases that we see, people were generally prescribed pain relieving medication for maybe a broken arm or some type of condition. So, in some of our cases, it was an honest start with their own prescription drug medication.”

And in other cases, those who the medications were not intended for get their hands on them .Drug Takeback Day on Saturday will be a chance for anyone to get rid of unwanted medications with no questions asked. Drop off disposal containers will be on the west side of Corewell Health Lakeland Hospital on Napier Avenue in St. Joseph from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. Peeples Hurst says since takeback events started about ten years ago, there has been far less abuse of prescriptions among young people.