UT Martin adds drug take-back box to campus

MARTIN, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee at Martin now has a drug take-back box on its campus.

“So people can bring their unwanted pharmaceuticals or other prescription medications they no longer need,” Lt. Jerry Garcia with UTM Public Safety said.

This is the fifth drug take-back box in Weakley County. The school partnered with the Weakley County Prevention Coalition to get the box on their campus.

“We’re also one of the first universities in the state to get a drug take-back box, so we’re very proud of that,” Lt. Garcia said.

The box is in the public safety office on campus. Some students have mixed reactions on how they feel about that location.

“I like it being in the public safety office. It’s public so there won’t be any shady business,” Zaire Hicks, a freshman, said.

“I think it should be with the clinic hospital. Public safety, I’m not really a fan of that,” David Attih, a freshman, said.

Gov. Bill Haslam announced recently that three Tennesseans die every day from an opioid overdose.

UT Martin hopes this will be the first step in bringing that number down to zero.

In case there is an opioid overdose on UT Martin’s campus, all of their public safety officers have been trained to use the Naloxone nasal spray to counteract the overdose.

For a full list of drug take-back box locations, see the state of Tennessee’s interactive Unwanted Pharmaceutical Take Back Map.