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By: Nick Liard

Local Pharmacies have come together with police to join a northern movement that hopes to keep fentanyl patches off the street.The Fentanyl Patch4Patch Program will launch June 1st and patients prescribed the opioid for pain relief, will have to return their old patches in order to receive a new prescription.

The Sudbury and District Health Unit is also a partner, and Public Health Nurse Eric Paquette says people misuse the patch or look to sell them which creates a dangerous situation in the community.

Paquette also says that between 2008 and 2012 a Sudbury coroner reported that opioids were a factor in the death of 87 people in Sudbury.

Paquette says many people don’t know that people tend to throw out patches that still have about 50 percent of active ingredients left, and if they are misused they can lead to illness or death.

The program has already been in place in North Bay, Espanola, and the Sault Ste. Marie, but Paquette says it has taken a longer for Sudbury to adopt the program because of it’s size.