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When a Portland high school lost two students to fatal fentanyl overdoses just days apart, it was clear there was an urgent need to address youth substance use in the community. “In the last two years, our community has seen a rise in fentanyl-related overdoses,” says Clair Raujol, CPS, Addictions Prevention Coordinator at the Multnomah County Health Department. “We needed a way to reach adults and youth around this issue.”
Together with Big Village Coalition, the county was already running a “Keep It Safe” program to provide resources to securely store drugs and alcohol in the home and encourage families to have regular discussions about substances in their homes. The coalition had expanded its offerings to include naloxone training, but Raujol felt more could be done to prevent fentanyl and prescription drug misuse.
To help educate families and get resources into their hands, the coalition launched an awareness campaign with the Deterra® Drug Deactivation and Disposal System. Deterra Pouches are made available to students and families to help clean out home medicine cabinets. Families can access a website with proper drug disposal information in six languages via a custom QR code on each pouch.
“People often start misuse with drugs found in the home medicine cabinet, and we need to raise awareness about the importance of proper drug disposal as an upstream prevention approach,” Raujol says.
Multnomah County Health Department had worked with local treatment programs to provide Deterra to clients for use at home, and Raujol saw an opportunity to include the pouches in area schools.
“We purchased enough pouches so every student can take one home to their families,” says Raujol. “We liked the idea of an at-home option because not everyone has easy access to other disposal methods.”
The drug disposal campaign was designed to address fentanyl and prescription drug safety in a way that’s inclusive of Portland Schools’ diverse student body while offering an environmentally conscious approach to disposal.
“Flush lists are helpful, but they can be difficult to understand and many medications are not listed on them,” Raujol notes. “Deterra Pouches help eliminate barriers to proper disposal and provide a simple way to destroy unwanted drugs that’s safe for the environment.”
Every pouch has a custom label adhered to it with a QR code linked to an informational website translated into six languages. Providing information in multiple languages helps break down cultural barriers and expand access to prevention resources.
The Multnomah County Health Department funded the project through state and federal grant dollars.
This summer, drug deactivation and disposal pouches were made available at Portland High School orientation for students and their families. More than 18,000 Deterra Pouches will be distributed in Multnomah County with the help of school counselors and staff, athletic directors, coalition members and community-based events. Big Village Coalition plans to expand the program to other school districts and develop additional prevention content for the website.
“Families and staff are excited about the program – every time we hand out a Deterra Pouch, people get excited and want more,” says Raujol. “Deterra is a great conversation starter for kids and parents, and the pouches help fill the gap in equitable access to prevention resources.”
Visit DeterraSystem.com/government to explore how other organizations are using Deterra or reach out to (612) 568-1128 or Sales@DeterraSystem.com to discuss how to implement at-home drug disposal initiatives in your community.
