The latest data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show that the U.S. has seen record numbers of opioid overdose deaths over the past year. That increase is also happening locally. Kaitlyn Krolikowski, director of the Purchase Area Health Connections Opioid Taskforce, said the pandemic is playing a role in rising opioid overdoses.

The Courage Center has received a grant totaling almost $50,000 from the South Carolina Department of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Services (DAODAS) to support strategies to prevent, and reduce the consequences of, opioid and stimulant misuse in South Carolina.

Orthopedic surgeon Greg Colbath says it was hard to convince people there was an opioid pandemic three years ago, but times have changed. After Gov. Henry McMaster’s declaration of an opioid emergency in late 2017 and last month’s federal guilty plea by OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma as part of an $8 billion federal settlement, Colbath said most people now are aware of the opioid pandemic.

An educational intervention coupled with a reliable option for opioid disposal resulted in a marked increase in disposal of opioids after surgery, for a simple but effective approach designed to help alleviate the ongoing opioid epidemic in this country.

“I think the public is becoming more aware of the opioid crisis,” said Rachael A. Haverland, MD, MS, a minimally invasive gynecologic surgery fellow at Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz. “But we noticed that although our patients knew about the problem, they didn’t know what to do about or how to dispose of their medication.”

The University of North Texas Health Science Center at Fort Worth is launching an educational campaign to prevent overdose deaths by teaching families how to properly dispose of unwanted or leftover prescription medications. Through a collaboration with Deterra pouches by Verde, HSC and several community partners will distribute 500 pouches, which destroy drugs when warm water is added to the bags containing deactivating pods, HSC said in a news release.