Drug take-back day planned in Greene
WAYNESBURG – Greene County residents are encouraged to turn in unwanted or expired prescription drugs Sept. 27 during the National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., residents can bring potentially dangerous expired, unused or unwanted prescription pills or patches to either the Greene County Courthouse (Church Street entrance) or the Carmichaels Borough Building at 100 W. George St., Carmichaels.
The Take-Back Day is an initiative from Greene County Human Services, Greene County sheriff’s office and Carmichaels Borough in conjunction with the Drug Enforcement Administration. This will be the ninth opportunity in four years for the public to help prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of such drugs.
The service is free and anonymous, with no questions asked. Liquids, needles or other sharps cannot be accepted.
Last April, Americans turned in 390 tons – or more than 780,000 pounds – of prescription drugs at nearly 6,100 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,400 of its state and local law enforcement partners. When those results are combined with what was collected in its eight previous Take-Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in more than 4.1 million pounds – or more than 2,100 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 because of 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 – pose both potential safety and health hazards.
DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe 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.
Ultimate users include patients, their family members and pet owners. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long-term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.
For more information on the Take-Back Day, call Greene County Human Services at 724-852-5276.