Medication Disposal Boxes Available at Three Longs Drugs Store Locations

Medication Disposal Box at Kihei Longs Drugs

Longs Drugs stores in Kahului, Kihei and Lahaina this week have have placed medication disposal drop boxes available for the public to access.

According to CVS – the company that owns Longs in Hawaii – their medication disposal boxes nationwide have collected 436,000 pounds of unwanted medications since 2014.

State Senator Roz Baker helped to get the drop boxes placed in Longs because she said they will not only get rid of dangerous, unwanted drugs but also protect the environment.

“This gives people a safe place to dispose of unneeded, unwanted prescription drugs,” said State Senator Roz Baker. “But it also makes sure that they’re not going to end up in the landfill, they’re not going to end up in the water, and that’s almost important.”

The Centers for Disease Control estimated that 75,000 children (18 years old or younger) are seen in emergency departments each year because of unintentional medication poisonings (excluding recreational drug use). Most of these visits (over 80%) were because an unsupervised child found and consumed the medication without adult supervision.

Children less than 5 years old are twice as likely as older children to be taken to the emergency department for an adverse drug event, and one out of every 150 two-year-olds visits an emergency department for a medication poisoning annually.

There is also the danger that addictive opioids such as Vicodin, OxyContin and Percocet can be stolen by family members.

CVS officials said all drugs collected at their drug stores are shipped to the mainland and destroyed by a U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency approved company. Medication drop-off is also available at all six Maui Police Department stations.

For more information check out the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s webpage on “Safe Disposal of Medicines.”