Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Friday, April 25, 2014
(BEDFORD) - On Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration will give the public its eighth 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 pills for disposal to the Lawrence County Security Center at 1420 I Street.
The DEA cannot accept liquids, or needles. They will take only pills or patches. The service is free and anonymous, with no questions asked.
Last October, Americans turned in 324 tons of prescription drugs at over 4,114 sites. Lawrence County gathered more than 200 pounds.
When those results are combined with what was collected in its seven previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 3.4 million pounds - more than 1,700 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 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.
DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe and Responsible rug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an "ultimate user" (that is, a patient or their family member or pet owner) 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.
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