It's National Poison Prevention Week and local public health officials are using it in part to discuss the importance of safely storing medication.
During a news conference Monday, Monroe County health commissioner Dr. Marielena Vélez de Brown emphasized that medication exposures are one of the most common calls the Upstate New York Poison Center hotline fields. The center is based at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse.
"Young children are naturally curious," Vélez de Brown said. "They learn and they develop by exploring, by touching, by tasting, by feeling and picking up everything, everyday items that we have around the house, including cleaning supplies or medications."
But, Vélez de Brown emphasized, these drug exposure cases can be prevented if parents and caretakers ensure that all medications — prescription and over-the-counter alike — are stored "up, away, and out of sight," and preferably in a locked cabinet, box, or even a safe.
That also includes weed, particularly when it is in the form of a gummy or other edibles, which contain concentrated THC and can be very attractive to children.
Vélez de Brown added that in 2024, the poison center received 500 calls for cannabis exposure and more than half of them involved children under 6.
Jennifer Farington is director of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence — Rochester area, which works in the area of substance use prevention. The organization distributes lockboxes and locking bags to help people safely store their medications. Farington strongly advocates for their use.
"The big emphasis today and always is store medication securely, preventing both theft but also misuse, keeping it out of ... the hands of those for which it is not prescribed, especially our young folks," Farington said.
She also stressed that households should properly dispose of unused, unwanted medications. The county accepts unwanted medications at its ecopark, and some police stations and pharmacies collect them as well. They can also be deactivated using special bags, such as Deterra pouches.
