Desert Messenger

July 7, 2010

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P��� 16 Drugs Dump the By Samantha Hess of the Quartzsite Community Prevention Coalition Every year thousands of people are prescribed prescription medications, but more than half the time the total quantity of drugs prescribed are never used, and a lot of times people are not aware of how to properly dispose of these drugs. What happens to them then? A lot of the time they are completely forgotten about, and just left in the bathroom cupboard, where they can morph and become potentially dangerous, and possibly even toxic if one was to ingest these drugs years later. But even worse- what if one’s kids were to get into these drugs and ingest them? Or what if they found this old stash of drugs and potentially decided to go out on the street and sell them? There are many negative outcomes when it comes to people not properly disposing of their old prescription drugs, listed below are just a few of them: • Medications fl ushed down the toilet can end up in our rivers, lakes, and local waters, therefore slowly ruining our water table. • Expired medication can be equiva- lent to poison after it has expired. • Medication can lose potency and be- come toxic and even deadly. • Misplaced bottles of medication can lead to children being exposed to them. • The possibility of theft of medica- tions, leading to outdated prescription drugs being sold on our local streets. Miracle-Ear, The #1 Choice for Hearing Aids Rediscover the Life You’ve Been Missing! FREE Miracle-Ear Hearing Test!* Satisfaction guaranteed and FREE lifetime care** ® ���.D�����M��������.��� This is only a brief list of the pos- sible things that can occur when outdated or unused medications are left around the household, and something must be done about this. This is why the local community will be embarking on the journey of Dump the Drugs, to get all these un-needed medications out of our community, making it a safer and even cleaner place to live. In Quartzsite, we now have a take back program to dispose of the pre- scription drugs. Beginning this month, the Quartzsite Police Department will be able to take your unused or expired prescriptions to be incinerated by the La Paz County Task Force. If you are unable to take the prescrip- tions to the Police Department, then call them. They will pick them up at your request. Call 928-927-4644. Desert Messenger DEADLINE for WED. AUG. 4th issue is WED. JULY 28 Send your ads, stories, letters to the editor, events and news desertmessenger7@yahoo.com JULY 7, 2010 Border Refuge not closed Several media outlets have been inaccu- rately reporting that a massive stretch of the US border at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (NWR) was recently closed. Buenos Aires NWR in southern Arizona has not been closed to the public. Nearly 5-years ago, a very small portion of the Refuge closed to public access due to public safety concerns. However, the remainder (97%) of the refuge’s 118,000 acres is open to the public for recreational activities such as hiking, camping, bird- watching, and seasonal hunting. Recent news items further falsely stated that the closure extends from the border 80-miles to the north. This distance is far from accurate. On October 6, 2006 roughly 3500 acres, or 3% of the Refuge, was closed to public access due to human safety concerns. At that time there was a marked increase in violence along the bor- der due to human and drug traffi cking. The closed area extends north from the in- ternational border roughly ¾ of a mile. A notice of the closure, including a map has been on the Refuge website since 2006. Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge’s placement along the international border with Mexico within the Altar Valley of southern Arizona provides a unique op- portunity to protect remnants of a fragile desert ecosystem and to provide refuge for some of the region’s most imperiled species of plants and wildlife. Since its establishment, refuge staff have diligent- ly worked to protect species such as the masked bobwhite quail and the Sonoran pronghorn, as well as to offer meaningful public recreation opportunities. For more information onU.S. Fish and Wildlife Ser- vice visit www.fws.gov. Use this coupon for a comprehensive hearing test with a Local Specialist State-of-the-art technology for clear, crisp sound No cost and no obligation. This coupon is good for one FREE comprehensive hearing test at a Miracle-Ear location. This coupon is only valid for hearing tests scheduled over the phone. Call to schedule your FREE hearing test now! Patrick Duffy, Actor 1-877-828-8940 *Hearing tests are always free. Not a medical exam. Audiometric test to determine proper amplification needs only. Good only from participating Miracle-Ear representatives. **3-Year Warranty on all models. See store for complete warranty details. Adjustments, check-ups, cleaning and demos are always free. Hearing aids do not restore natural hearing. Individual experiences vary depending on severity of hearing loss, accuracy of evaluation, proper fit and ability to adapt to amplification. 541-218-2560

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