TUNKHANNOCK, Pa. — An opioid settlement money is being used in Wyoming County to help residents fight back against addiction.
"You just open it, you put the pills inside, you add water halfway, you seal it, you shake it, and you throw it away," said District Attorney Joe Peters.
Six steps are all it takes to join the fight against pill addiction, and pretty soon, District Attorney Joe Peters says every resident in Wyoming County will have access to the Deterra Drug Deactivation System.
"Instead of asking people to bring their pills to us, mail a pack like this where they can destroy the pills at home," said Peters.
Peters says the program aims to help area residents looking to get rid of extra or expired prescriptions. The goal is to reduce the number of pills lying around homes in Wyoming County.
"Stop that road to addiction. Never have them get on it because they've not taken a pill by removing that temptation of that pill in the medicine cabinet, and everybody can be a part of it," said Peters.
The new drug destruction pouches were on display for residents at the Wyoming County Senior Expo inside the Triton Hose Company. Emily Hoffman of Tunkhannock received hers in the mail.
"Oh, I think they should use them if they need to," said Hoffman. "They should use them, take advantage of them."
Workers at recovery and rehabilitation programs in the area say this is an important step in the battle against addiction.
"To provide, you know, the people of our area with something like that gives them the opportunity to, you know, not really leave something like that laying around their house," said Angelia Petrillo of Pathway To Recovery.
"A lot of our clients that I deal with personally I know a lot of them will go through homes," said Bailey Eyet of Trehab Community Resource Center. "This will help get that out of the home. There are less chances for them to relapse. It would be beneficial for them, too."
District Attorney Peters tells us the county's money from opioid settlements is being used to buy the pouches.
More than 8,000 residents have received them so far, and the rest will be mailed out over the next few weeks.