At an event Thursday, the James E. Van Zandt VA Medical Center in Altoona unveiled a new, safe drug disposal system to tackle the epidemic. Officials there said the opioid epidemic has not just ravaged cities across this country, but also rural communities like those in Blair County. These officials also said that the epidemic has deeply affected veterans. The company NARCX developed a unique drug disposal system that immediately makes any substances placed inside it unretrievable and unusable, meaning nobody can steal the disposed medications and neither abuse them nor sell them on the black market.