Two tons of drugs collected in Idaho take-back day
Federal Drug Enforcement Administration officials say this year’s Drug Takeback program was a success.
There were 6,000 collection sites set up across the nation to collect unused, unwanted, or expired prescription medications on April 28. DEA said local, state, and federal officials collected and destroyed nearly 475 tons of potentially dangerous drugs. Idaho had 37 collection sites and removed 4,282 pounds of drugs from circulation.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Keith Weis said, “The take-back events continue to be highly successful and continue to rally the citizens of the Pacific Northwest into the fight against opioid abuse.”
The initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that lie forgotten 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.
Agents launched the prescription drug take-back program after the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Drug Administration observed that the public was disposing of unused medicine by flushing it down a toilet or throwing it in the trash. In both cases, the drugs posed potential safety and health hazards.
The next Drug Take-Back Day is scheduled October 27.
