On
Saturday, October 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Van Buren County Sheriff’s
Office and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration will give the public its 18th
opportunity in nine years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their
homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused and unwanted prescription drugs.
Bring your pills for disposal to the Sheriff’s Office at 907 Broad Street,
Keosauqua, IA 52565. (Sites cannot accept liquids, needles or sharps, only
pills or patches.) The service
is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
Last fall
Americans turned in nearly 469 tons (more than 937,000 pounds) of prescription
drugs at nearly 6,300 sites operated by the DEA and almost 5,000 of its state
and local law enforcement partners. Overall, in its 17 previous Take-Back
events, DEA and its partners have taken in more than 11.8 million
pounds—approximately 5,900 tons—of pills.
This
initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines
that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and
abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are alarmingly
high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these
drugs. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National
Survey on Drug Use and Health shows year after year that the majority of misused
and abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including someone
else’s medication being stolen from the home medicine cabinet. In addition,
Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused
medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose
potential safety and health hazards.
