Fayette County nonprofit helps families safely store prescription medications

FAYETTEVILLE, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - It’s a tiny device that can save a child’s life. A medication lock box helps families safely store prescription medications.

The Fayette County nonprofit AV Pride gives away hundreds of pill lock boxes every year.

“Prescription drug lockboxes are designed to help keep families safe and keep their children safe,” said Dr. Tami Morris, CEO of AV Pride.

The medication lock boxes vary in design. Some are made to look like a book, but when you open the book, you find that it’s locked tight. You need a key to get in. Another version looks like a pill bottle but has a specialized locked top.

“Research shows that most of the kids that get their drugs get them from their homes, whether it’s their home, their grandparent’s home, a friend’s home,” said Morris. “We raise our kids to be critical thinkers, and we think that they’re smart and we don’t think that they’re going to get into anything.”

National statistics show that each day, 2,500 teens abuse prescription pain pills for the first time. 70 percent of them admit to getting their meds from a family member’s medicine cabinet or a friend’s home.

AV Pride in Fayetteville gets shipments of about 300 pill lock boxes every few months. The nonprofit also works with dozens of other organizations in Georgia to distribute free lock boxes.

“We’ve used some of our [state and federal] funding to purchase as many as 300 boxes at a time. I know some other coalitions that have as many as a thousand boxes at a time. There are other state agencies that donate boxes to us so we can distribute them,” said Morris.

You can visit AV Pride’s website here to request a free medication lock box.

“We’re excited that we can provide this service and we know it’s helpful to families into our youth, and it’s keeping everybody safe.”

AV Pride also gives out free Naloxone kits for eligible families. The medicine can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose.

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