The Garland County Sheriff's Department and Hot Springs Police Department have partnered with CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs in a friendly competition to see who can collect the most unused prescription and over-the-counter drugs from the community.
The Rx Drug Battle of the Badges contest is intended to bolster awareness around the Hot Springs community's prescription drug problem, increase community collaboration and increase the amount of medications collected through take back initiatives. Lindsay Mulkey, substance use prevention specialist for CHI, thought a competition between the two agencies would generate positive results.
"We want community involvement," Mulkey said. "It is so much bigger than this, getting people involved and getting them out in the community."
Garland County Under Sheriff Jason Lawrence and Hot Springs police Officer 1st Class Joey Williams said department leaders were immediately on board with the idea.
"There are no negatives to this whatsoever," Williams said. "No matter who wins the competition, the bottom line is we take drugs in, we get prescription drugs off the streets and out of the hands of people who do not need them. We are saving lives and improving the qualify of life in Garland County."
Mulkey will colead the police department's community team with Williams. Lawrence will colead the sheriff's community team with Susie Reece, violence prevention specialist for CHI.
The teams will track monthly totals of received prescription medications, create agency-led awareness events, host appearances and raise awareness with speaking engagements and presentations for community groups, all to increase the promotion of the need for prescription medication safety. The promotion will last until after the next National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on April 28, 2018.
"We are looking forward to a healthy competition that will encourage healthy community habits and promote education around a highly dangerous and pervasive community issue," Reece said. "We hope this competition will lead into awareness trainings around opioid abuse, which will promote Narcan usage for our law enforcement and first responders."
Narcan is an opioid antagonist. The prescription medicine blocks the effects of opioids and reverses overdoses.
Lawrence and Williams said their departments have seen the amount of medications collected on Drug Take Back days decrease as they have had more success collecting throughout the year. Both departments have drug take back boxes available in their lobbies during office hours. Lawrence said they frequently remind members of the public the boxes are available outside of Drug Take Back days.
"We see a huge group of individuals that will come in on a daily basis and will drop it off multiple times per day," Lawrence said. "At the same time, you will have individuals who will show up the day of the Drug Take Back. We have to remind them we do have a drug take back box. You will have people who roll in with cases."
A collection box is also available 24 hours every day at the Walgreens on Central Avenue. Reece said CHI is exploring hosting a take back box at the hospital.
Mulkey and Reece sought data from the Criminal Justice Institute, a campus of the University of Arkansas System, in Little Rock to understand the state of the prescription drug crisis in Garland County. A recent study by the institute, Division of Behavioral Health Services Prevention Services, University of Arkansas at Little Rock MidSouth and Arkansas Foundation for Medical Care ranked Garland County 10th-highest among Arkansas counties based on opioid misuse factors, such as treatment admissions, arrests, student use, children removed from homes based on drug use, opiate poisonings and overdose deaths.
Garland County sees 1.98 patients admitted for drug treatment for opiates per 1,000 people, 9.2 percent of students try prescription drugs, an average of 0.72 opiate poisonings per 1,000 people between 2012-2015, 2. 73 per 1,000 substance diagnosis presence on Arkansas inpatient hospital discharges and 1.09 per 1,000 substance diagnosis presence on Arkansas hospital discharge with evidence of emergency department utilization.
The county ranks 10.8 on an 11-point scale for nonspecific overdose death rates, but the prescribing rate has declined in the past three years. The rate fell from 194.9 per 1,000 people, 182.5 in 2015 and 176.3 in 2016.
A record attendance of more than 1,000 people was announced Thursday for the sixth annual Arkansas Prescription Drug Abuse Prevention Summit Thursday at the Hot Springs Convention Center. Mulkey said Arkansas Drug Director Kirk Lane emphasized the importance of proper disposal.
"'Don't let your medicine cabinet become the neighborhood dealer,' they kept saying," Mulkey said. "People do not think of it that way. It is important they know it needs to be properly disposed."
Prescription drugs flushed down toilets can taint ground water and community drinking water supplies. Drugs not disposed can poison children and pets and be misused by teenagers and adults.
The Drug Enforcement Administration ships collected drugs to Atlanta, Ga., to be incinerated. Drugs collected in Garland County are transported to Arkansas State Police Troop K before they are sent to Little Rock and Atlanta.
"We get a lot of questions in regards to, 'Do you track it?' 'Do we need to take it out of bottles?'" Lawrence said. "No. Once it is boxed, it is secured by both agencies in our secure locations. That way, nobody else can get to it."
The sheriff's and police departments will total their numbers at the end of each month and provide updates to the public. The competition will culminate after the National Prescription Drug Take Back Day in April with a public presentation of a "Battle of the Badges" belt to the winning department.
Local on 11/12/2017