CROSS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE TAKING BACK UNWANTED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS APRIL 27, 2013 FROM 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. AT 704 EAST CANAL, WYNNE, AR (parking lot of Cross County Courthouse)

[Wynne, AR] – On April 27 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. the Cross County Sheriff’s Office and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will give the public its sixth 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 medications for disposal to Cross County Sheriff’s Office at 704 East Canal in Wynne (Cross County Courthouse Parking Lot).  The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

Last September, Americans turned in 244 tons of prescription drugs at over 5,200 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners.  In its five previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in over 2 million pounds—over a thousand 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.

Four days after the first event, Congress passed the Secure 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.  The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.  DEA is drafting regulations to implement the Act.