Question: Where should we take our outdated medicine for disposal?
Answer: The Hawaii Medication Take Back Program will be offered at three different events on Oahu this year, as follows:
» The Hawaii United Okinawa Association’s Senior Health & Fitness Fair, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. June 19 at the Hawaii Okinawa Center
» Kuakini Medical Center’s 115th-anniversary event, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. July 18 at Kuakini
» The Hawaii Seniors’ Fair, "The Good Life Expo 2015," 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sept. 25-27, at the Neal Blaisdell Center
(It also will be held from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 12 at the West Hawaii Caregivers Conference, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii island.)
For the past few years, the federal Drug Enforcement Administration had coordinated the National Take Back Initiative, in which prescription drug take-back events were held twice a year.
The DEA no longer is coordinating that initiative, although it will continue to support the "take backs" at the local level, said Valerie Mariano, chief of the state attorney general’s Community and Crime Prevention Branch.
In its stead, the state Department of Public Safety’s Narcotics Enforcement Division and attorney general’s Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division are working together to conduct the Hawaii Medication Take Back Program.
The UH-Hilo School of Pharmacy also is supporting the effort.
The Narcotics Enforcement Division will collect and dispose of the medications, Mariano said.
For now, events are scheduled via community request and at senior-related fairs.
Last fall, in response to the change in federal law regarding disposal of outdated or unwanted prescription medications, Keith Kamita, administrator of the Narcotics Enforcement Division, said the agency was considering introducing legislation or adopting administrative rules to allow public and private entities to establish secure methods of collecting and destroying the drugs.
During this year’s state legislative session, numerous bills proposing to place the take-back program within the Narcotics Enforcement Division were introduced, but none passed, Kamita said.
For now the division conducts the take-back events with existing funds as well as with assistance from the attorney general’s Crime Prevention and Justice Assistance Division, he said.
Question: The parking lot at the main post office downtown is an absolute mess and eyesore. The remaining garbage cans (some no longer there) are overflowing with smelly garbage everywhere. This is near the Kamehameha statue, and hundreds of tourists view this disgraceful situation. Who is responsible for this cleanup?
Answer: A city contractor had been servicing and maintaining the municipal parking lot at Richards and King streets.
However, that contract ended at the end of March, and the Department of Facility Maintenance’s Division of Road Maintenance has since taken over that task, said Director Ross Sasamura.
The department’s Downtown/Chinatown Clean Team serviced the litter cans and removed trash around the parking lot Wednesday and will continue to do so, he said.
"We apologize for the frustration and any inconvenience the lapse in service may have caused," he said.
Mahalo
To Alex, for helping us battle an engine fire on our morning commute to work in March. We decided to return home after smelling gas but never made it as the engine caught fire. We immediately pulled to the side on Lawelawe Street and got out. Alex heard our calls for help and brought us his garden hose while he went back in his house to get a couple of fire extinguishers to keep the fire at bay until the firetruck came. Thanks also to his wife for calling the Honolulu Fire Department, their neighbor who brought us a couple of chairs to sit on and Aiesha for consoling us. We were fortunate that day to have such caring neighbors. — Toasted Marshmallow
Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
CORRECTION: The prescription drug take-back event at Kuakini Hospital will be on Saturday, July 18. An earlier version of this story and the story in Monday’s paper said it would be July 13.
