A new prescription drug disposal site soon will be available at the Jackson County Sheriff's Office in Ripley.
The drop box is being placed as part of the Dispose Responsibly of Prescriptions (DRoP) initiative, a partnership of state groups aimed at establishing a drug disposal box in every county. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey shared the information in a news release Thursday.
Jackson Sheriff Tony Boggs said the box at 100 Maple St. will "strengthen our ability to keep prescription medication out of the wrong hands and will also let us make sure it is disposed of properly."
Other DRoP sites are located at the Shepherdstown Police Department, along with the sheriff's offices of Boone and Roane counties. Another site will open soon at the Paden City Police Department, and there are two more locations on the way.
News of the Jackson County site comes days after Morrisey and U.S. Attorney William J. Ihlenfeld announced a separate partnership that cross-designates two attorneys from the Attorney General's Office as special federal prosecutors in a designed effort to combat drug trafficking across northern West Virginia.
According to the Office of National Drug Control Policy, almost 70 percent of new abusers of prescription pain relievers obtained their pills from a friend or relative for free or took them without asking.
To combat the problem of prescription drug abuse, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration spearheads Drug Take-Back Day, initially launched in 2010. The DEA typically hosts two such events per year. The DRoP sites represent a permanent, year-round extension of that national initiative that allows local and state law enforcement agencies to safely collect and dispose of unused medication.