Van Buren County Sherriff’s Reserve Drug Take Back Day

All of us who are passionate about reducing drug abuse cannot ignore the growing dangers of prescription drug abuse, particularly among teens and young adults. Often abusers are getting prescription drugs from friends and family, particularly from home medicine cabinets that provide easy access, which leads to accidents and the illegal sale of these drugs.

One important step we can take right now is to make sure we safely and securely dispose of unused, unneeded and expired medications.  On Saturday, April 27^th, the Van Buren County Sherriff’s Reserve and Van Buren County SAFE Coalition sponsored a National Drug Take-Back Day at the Keosauqua Senior Center.  At the Take-Back Day 24 pounds of prescription medication were collected by the Van Buren Sherriff’s Reserve Officers!  Nationally 742,497 lbs (371 tons) of prescription medication were collected! 

Four days after the first event of this type, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them.  The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.  DEA is drafting regulations to implement the Act.  Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Reserve and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.

You do not have to wait for a Drug Take Back event to dispose of your medication.  Lee Pharmacy in Keosauqua accepts the return of prescription medications (excluding controlled substances) during their regular hours at their pharmacy counter.

If you would like to know more about the Prescription Drug Take Back Days or Prescription Drug Abuse please find additional details at the following link: http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html or contact the SAFE Coalition office at 319-293-6412 or at info@vbsafecoalition.com.