BY GERRI MILLER, EAN STAFF WRITER
Customers filled more than 17 boxes full of unwanted medications at the Jones Drugs in Millbrook Saturday during National Prescription Drug Take Back Day. The store took 287 pounds of drugs off the street in just a short time.
It was part of multiple Drug Take Back events locally and across the country.
Two U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) officers were on hand at Jones Drugs in Millbrook to help customers fill the boxes with potentially dangerous medications that had expired or were no longer needed.
All of Jones Drugs stores combined took approximately 1,200 pounds of drugs back on Saturday. The company has stores in Montgomery, Millbrook, Prattville, Greenville and Phenix City.
This year’s event—the 19th DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back—had collection sites throughout Alabama. The program is designed to combat the abuse or misuse of potentially dangerous medicines that have expired or are no longer needed for those whom these controlled substances were prescribed. Law enforcement officers were present at sites throughout Alabama to receive unused prescription drugs for safe and proper disposal.
Since the first Take Back event in Alabama, in September of 2010, the number of drugs collected continues to increase. Throughout all of Alabama’s previous DEA National Prescription Drug Take-Back events, a total of about 88,907 pounds of unwanted, unused, or expired drugs have been removed and disposed of safely.
Because of the severity of the Covid-19 pandemic, Prescription Drug Take Back was not held this spring, making this event even more important, Attorney General Marshall noted.
“Many who would have disposed of prescription drugs at the spring event may have a greater amount on hand that need to be discarded,” Attorney General Marshall said. “With children and family members staying at home more often, and many people isolated and suffering from anxiety and with substance abuse subsequently on the rise, it is important that we take steps to get dangerous drugs out of our homes.”
Law enforcement agencies and interested community partners such as pharmacies, schools and civic groups are working together to provide as many local sites as possible for future events throughout Alabama.
Deliveries of drugs to DEA National Prescription Drug Take Back Day events are confidential, with no personal information collected and no questions asked. Participants are encouraged to remove labels or black-out information beforehand.
Prescription drugs pose dangers to children and others who may take them by accident or who may use them for abusive purposes. Expired drugs may have lost their effectiveness and therefore no longer be a safe and adequate treatment for the conditions for which they were prescribed. In addition to concerns of potential poisoning, abuse or overdose, it also is important environmentally that medicines be disposed of in a proper manner rather than simply being thrown into garbage, flushed away or poured down drains, as they could contaminate water supplies and cause an environmental hazard.
