WINFIELD, W.Va. — U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has unveiled a new statewide drug prevention initiative.
The company Mallinckrodt has pledged to donate 55,000 drug deactivation pouches to West Virginia to ensure proper disposal of unused or outdated prescription medications.
Manchin was at Winfield Middle School Tuesday to make the announcement with elected officials and community leaders during National Red Ribbon Week.
“This is an easy disposable. This bag here, you put in and can put up to 45-50 pills in, half a bag of water and it’ll dissolve itself, throw it away and it’s biodegradable,” Manchin explained to reporters.
Each of the state’s 55 counties will get 1,000 pouches.
Manchin said he made the announcement at the school for a reason. He said when young children tell their parents about the dangers of a product, people typically change their views.
“Now if the kids can go home and say ‘hey, you shouldn’t have those drugs. We don’t need those drugs. We need to get rid of those,’ I think they can change,” Manchin said. “The power of a child is unbelievable.”
Manchin’s office will work with each county sheriff’s office and local law enforcement, drug prevention coalitions and senior centers to distribute the pouches to help keep prescription drugs off the streets.
“We’ve got too many drugs out there,” Manchin said. “People have been over prescribed. That’s the biggest problem that we have. Doctors just don’t know and some doctors just don’t care.”
A national survey of U.S. adults who used opioids showed that nearly 6 out of 10 had or expect to have leftover opioids, according to findings published online in the JAMA Internal Medicine journal earlier this year.