EASTON, Pa. — Northampton County is working to combat the opioid epidemic by targeting one mailbox at a time.
County residents are getting drug disposal pouches in the mail, courtesy of the county government.
"We've been fighting fentanyl aggressively," County Executive Lamont McClure said.
"We've been doing this to save kids’ lives and we're also doing it in terms of making sure we get Narcan distributed all over Northampton County as well.”
"We've been doing this to save kids' lives,"Lehigh County Executive Lamont McClure
County residents are finding drug disposal pouches at their doorstep as county officials try to fight back against drug abuse.
"The Deterra program is helping us get an estimated 6.3 million pills, potentially, out of medicine cabinets in Northampton County,” he said.
The biodegradable pouches, called Deterra drug deactivation system, dissolve unused medications in pill form and illicit drugs, such as opioids and fentanyl.
“They're very easy," McClure said. "You open them up, you put the medication in, you fill it with water up to the line that's indicated on the package, you seal the package, you shake the package.
"That will deactivate the medication that's in the package and then you throw it in the garbage because it's biodegradable.”
'We can protect kids'
McClure said the packages were sent out to about 142,000 households over two mail cycles — one in November and one in May.
"We know that much of addiction starts at home and it starts in the medicine cabinet."Lamont McClure, County Executive, Northampton County
"We know that much of addiction starts at home and it starts in the medicine cabinet," McClure said.
"So if we could get opioids out of medicine cabinets, we can protect kids from getting an opioid addiction and eventually turning to street level drugs that have fentanyl in them and we know that fentanyl poisonings cause death pretty quickly.”
The mailings are part of the county’s Fake is Real campaign, which also hands out free naloxone, the overdose reversal drug also known as Narcan.
No taxes were used for the project. Funding came from a settlement with the major opioid companies after Northampton County was included in a lawsuit against them.
"We sued the opioid manufacturers because we knew the opioid manufacturers hurt people in Northampton County, and you're not getting away with that,” McClure said.
“So we took them to court and we received settlement dollars, millions and millions of settlement dollars, which we will be receiving for years and years.
"And we're using that money to fight back against fentanyl, fentanyl poisoning, fentanyl overdose, and ultimately death.”
McClure said he expects one more round of Deterra pouches to go out soon.
County residents can get additional drug disposal pouches or naloxone through the Fake is Real websiteor by calling the Northampton County Drug and Alcohol Division in the Human Services Department.
