Lowcountry coroners office teaching students to fight against drug overdoses [Video]

MONCKS CORNER, S.C. (WCSC) – Pharmacy students are focusing on drug abuse prevention efforts with hands-on experience from the Berkeley County Coroner’s Office.

The coroner’s office, Ernest E. Kennedy Center and Dottie’s Specialty Pharmacy partnered to create the PEPPI education program. PEPPI stands for Prescription Education Partnership on Prevention Initiative.

The initiative works towards opioid overdose prevention efforts after growing concerns about county drug-related death numbers. Ernest E. Kennedy Center officials work to discuss prevention efforts and resource availability in the program. Center officials say it is important for pharmacy students to know prevention efforts like safe use, storage and disposal as they interact with patients.

Berkeley County Coroner’s Office Community Outreach Coordinator Allison Bilton says officials were concerned about the number of drug-related involving prescribed drugs.

“Doctors and dentists, oral surgeons were prescribing large numbers of opioids,” Bilton says.

“Most oftentimes, people that were using fentanyl, heroin, things like …