You may or may not be surprised to learn that the most abused drugs in America are the ones you can find in many medicine cabinets. We’ve heard that same fact repeated as a catch phrase over the last few years but what do the studies really say?
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. These same studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.
According to the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office those medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to, “diversion, misuse and abuse.”
Scarily, experts have recently determined that our 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.
So what should we be doing with our unused medication? The Lassen County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration will hold another of their prescription collection days on October 29th, from 10:00a.m. until 2:00p.m., at Walgreen’s Pharmacy, 2875 Main Street.
The service is free, anonymous and no questions will be asked.
Last April, Americans turned in 376,593 pounds, or 188 tons, of prescription drugs at nearly 5,400 sites operated by the DEA and more than 3,000 state and local law enforcement partners.
Four days after the first Take-Back event in 2010, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which changes the way that medication can be disposed of by private individuals and long term care facilities. The Drug Enforcement Administration has begun drafting regulations to implement the Act, a process that can take as long as 24 months.
Until these new regulations are in place local law enforcement agencies like the Lassen County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.
