According to Injury-Free North Carolina, the number of deaths from prescription drug overdoses has increased by more than 300 percent since 1999, and unfortunately, drug overdose deaths have taken more than 1,000 lives each year since 2010. These numbers are continuing to rise – learn more here.
According to Safe Kids Worldwide, kids are getting into medicine nearly 500,000 times per year. Every minute of every day, a poison control center receives a call about a potential medicine poisoning for a child age 5 and under. And 64,000 times per year (or every eight minutes), a young child goes to the emergency room for medicine poisoning. In three out of four (77 percent) of those visits, a child got into medicine belonging to a parent or grandparent. You can learn more about medication safety at https://www.safekids.org/.
You can help reduce your and your family’s risk, and make your home a safer place, by bringing all of your unused or expired prescription and over-the-counter medicines to a take-back event on Saturday, April 26, from 10 am to 2 pm at various locations nationwide. This event is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), in observance of National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day. Visit the DEA’s website after April 1 for more details and information on specific event sites.
Now is a great opportunity to clean out your medicine cabinet and make your home a safer place for your children and your entire family.
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