AG Marshall urges Alabamians to participate in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day Saturday, October 29
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Special to the News
Attorney General Steve Marshall urges Alabamians to participate in the DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 29, at many locations throughout the state.
This year’s event – the twenty-third DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day – has approximately 60 registered collection sites throughout Alabama scheduled to be available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, October 29.
As of press time there were no registered collection sites within Coosa County listed online for tomorrow’s Prescription Drug Take Back Day. However, the Tallapoosa County Narcotics Task Force has a collection site at Walgreens in Alexander City, and Chilton County Sheriff’s Office has a site at the Chilton County Jail.
The program is sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to combat the abuse or misuse of potentially dangerous medicines that have expired or are no longer needed for those whom these controlled substances were prescribed. Law enforcement officers will be present at sites throughout Alabama to receive unused prescription drugs for safe and proper disposal.
Since the first Take Back event in Alabama in September of 2010, the amount of drugs collected continues to increase. Throughout all of Alabama’s previous DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back events combined, a total of about 109,671 pounds of unwanted, unused, or expired drugs have been removed and disposed of safely.
“With an increasing amount of unused and expired prescription drugs in many homes, it is more important than ever to dispose of them safely and properly,” said Attorney General Marshall. “When old prescription drugs are left in our homes, children may be poisoned or fall prey to drug abuse and addiction. Your old medications can also be a lure to criminals looking for drugs to sell. On Saturday, October 29, please take the opportunity to safely remove these hazards by bringing prescription drugs that are out of date or no longer needed to collection sites across Alabama for safe and proper disposal.”
Law enforcement agencies and interested community partners such as pharmacies, schools and civic groups are working together to provide local drop off sites throughout Alabama. A listing of sites may be found through a search at www.dea.gov/takebackday#collection-locator.
If you do not find your area listed on the DEA website, please check with your local law enforcement officials to see if they may be participating in a Take Back event in your community.
Deliveries of drugs to DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events are confidential, with no personal information collected and no questions asked. Participants are encouraged to remove labels or black-out information beforehand.
In addition to concerns of potential poisoning, abuse or overdose, it also is important environmentally that medicines be disposed of in a proper manner rather than simply being thrown into the trash, flushed away or poured down drains, as they could contaminate water supplies and cause an environmental hazard.