In May 2020, the Hamilton County Coalition (HCC) worked with the State of Tennessee, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services and Tennessee American Water, to make medication safety equipment easily and safely accessible to Hamilton County residents.

To receive the free and valuable resource of a Helix Prescription Drug Medication Lockbox and a Deterra Drug Deactivation Pouch, all anyone has to do is visit the HCC website (www.hccoalition.org) or call the HCC at 423-305-1449 to order and schedule a No-Contact Pickup right outside the HCC office.

After garnering local media attention, the HCC began noticing requests being made from Tennessee residents outside of Hamilton County. With a new goal of making medication safety equipment easily and safely accessible to everyone in Southeast Tennessee, a partnership with the Bradley Prevention Coalition began. This created a hub where Bradley County residents could conveniently pickup lockboxes and Deterra pouches locally.

As of July 1, the HCC and Bradley Prevention Coalition have combined to distribute over 300 medication lockboxes and 400 Deterra pouches to Southeast Tennessee residents.

"In this time where a lot of families, especially children and young adults, are around the home more, it's common for people to be accidental drug dealers," Camilla Bibbs-Lee, Executive Director of the Hamilton County Coalition said. "We want as many homes as possible to be equipped with lockboxes and Deterra pouches to keep medications safe from people it's not meant for. Our partnerships like what we have with Bradley Prevention Coalition is helping us accomplish that. Hopefully this will lead to establishing more hubs across Southeast Tennessee."