National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, Oct. 26, 2013

Incident:  National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

 

Date:       10/26/2013

 

Location:  Dunwoody Police Department

 

 

On October 26th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Dunwoody Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public its seventh opportunity in three years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.  Bring your medications for disposal to Dunwoody Police Headquarters at 41 Perimeter Center East, Ste. 100.  The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.  We cannot accept needles/sharps, syringes with needles, thermometers, IV bags, bloody or infectious waste, personal care products, empty containers, inhalers, medical equipment and hydrogen peroxide.

 

Georgians participating in the United States Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA’s) sixth National Prescription Drug Take-Back event on Saturday, April 27, 2013, turned in 12,605 pounds of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at sites set up throughout the state. This number was far more than the last take back event held in September, 2012, which yielded 8,233 pounds.

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 U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.  Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including 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.

 

Four days after the first event, 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 Dunwoody Police and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.

 

Dunwoody resident’s may also utilize our MedReturn and bring their unwanted medication to the front lobby of our police department on Tuesdays or Thursdays between the hours of 9AM-11AM, or 1PM-3PM, at 41 Perimeter Center East, Suite 100.

 

If you have any questions about Operation Pill Drop, please contact Ofc. Tim Fecht at 678.382.6917, or timothy.fecht@dunwoodyga.gov.