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Local mayor, US representative announces 'kits' to deactivate, break down opioids

FILE - This Aug. 15, 2017 file photo shows an arrangement of pills of the opioid oxycodone-acetaminophen in New York. Congressional investigators say wholesale pharmaceutical distributors shipped hundreds of millions of prescription opioid pills to West Virginia, a state disproportionately ravaged by deaths caused by the addictive drugs. Now, lawmakers want executives of those companies to explain how that happened. (AP Photo/Patrick Sison)

TEGA CAY, S.C. — A local mayor and a U.S. representative are expected to announce today a product designed to combat the opioid crisis in the Charlotte area.

The Tega Cay Police Department received a grant to allow people to privately dispose of unused opioids.

The product is a chemical in a "kit" that deactivates the pills and breaks them down.

Pills are mixed with the Dispose RX product. It will deactivate them and turn them into a hardened gel-like substance.

Once they are turned into the gel-like substance, they cannot be used again.

Tega Cay police received 400 of these "kits" and they are free to the public.

These "kits" are in addition to pill drop boxes throughout the county.

U.S. Representative Ralph Norman and Tega Cay Mayor David O' Neal said this is another tool to help in the opioid crisis.

[RELATED: Mecklenburg Co. files lawsuit in fight against opioid epidemic] 

This will allow for unused and expired drugs to be disposed of in a safe and effective way.

Channel 9 has reported several local cities and counties have joined a national lawsuit against opioid manufacturers.

[READ: Mecklenburg Co. Opioid Lawsuit]

These counties include Burke, Caldwell, Lancaster, and Mecklenburg counties.

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