The state Attorney General’s Office will supply 300,000 drug deactivation pouches to the 12 counties hit hardest by the opioid epidemic, which includes Butler County.
Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the new initiative will make available free safety pouches to dispose of unwanted and unused prescription drugs.
“Eighty percent of heroin addicts start with the abuse of prescription drugs, and the vast majority of those who misuse these drugs got them from friends, relatives or a medicine cabinet,” Attorney General Shapiro said at a press conference Tuesday. “The communities hit hardest by this epidemic have too often been ignored. We hear their pain and today, we’re bringing the fight into small towns and local pharmacies across the state to help.”
The drug pouches can deactivate up to 45 unwanted pills when warm water is added and the pouches are sealed. The pouches can then be safely disposed of in the trash.
The pouches are being distributed in counties hardest hit by the epidemic that also have poor access to takeback boxes, using data from the state Department of Health’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program and the Department of Drug and Alcohol.
The counties are Blair, Butler, Cambria, Erie, Fayette, Indiana, Lackawanna, Lawrence, Lehigh, Luzerne, Mercer and Montour.
Last year in Pennsylvania, 4,642 persons died of fatal overdoses – a 37 percent increase over 2015.
