Milan residents “count it, lock it, drop it” for National Drug Take Back Day

MILAN, Tenn. — Saturday is National Drug Take Back Day, so the Milan Prevention Coalition was at the Police Department promoting awareness of the “count it, lock it, drop it” campaign.

“You count your meds, and then you lock them up, and then when your lock box gets full, you drop them off at the appropriate location,” said Mary Duncan, Executive Director of the Milan Prevention Coalition.

“Unfortunately we’ve been collecting for a long period of time and just have never gotten down here to dispose of these drugs, so it seemed like the perfect time,” said Milan resident Joe Albright.

Albright says, its important to dispose of medication in the right way.

“We don’t want to just throw it in the trash,” Albright said. “We certainly don’t want it flushed into the sewer system where the water treatment plant can’t adequately take care of it.”

The coalition also says, it could be extremely dangerous if these medications were to fall into the wrong hands. The mission of the organization, to urge the younger generation to avoid things like alcohol, tobacco, and the abuse of prescription drugs.

“We’re teaching them how to bring prevention into the schools with their peers, so that they can teach their peers,” Duncan said, “because its statistically known that peers listen to their own more so than an adult.”

Student volunteers we spoke with from Milan High School say, Drug Take Back Day is also a step toward supporting their future and the future of their classmates.

“We know people in our school that do drugs, drink alcohol, and take pills and stuff, so were trying to get our message out there to tell them basically that it’s wrong; to stop. You won’t have a better future,” said Duncan Powers of the Milan Prevention Coalition.

The coalition also gave away lock boxes to the first 75 people that dropped off medication. The Milan Police Department reminds us that the medicine drop box is available at their station seven days a week.