03/28/2024
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RALEIGH – The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announces the DEA’s 14th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday, October 28, 2017.  The biannual event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at thousands of collection sites around the country, including 27 here in the Eastern District of North Carolina. The event is an effort to rid homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.

U.S. Attorney Robert J. Higdon, Jr. commented, “With the spiraling drug overdose and death rates facing our country, it is critical that we all do our part to reduce opportunity and temptation which can lead to abuse.  The DEA’s Prescription Drug Take Back Program is an important opportunity for all of us to play our part in this effort.  It is a “no questions asked” chance for members of our community to help fight prescription drug abuse directly. I urge all of the citizens of the Eastern District to do their part.”

Daniel R. Salter, the Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division said, “The Prescription Drug Take-Back program will allow Americans to properly and safely dispose of their prescription medication which could otherwise be abused for non-medical purposes. This event is free and anonymous, simply turn in your unused, unwanted, unneeded medication, no questions asked.  DEA is committed to making our communities safer by raising public awareness about the dangers of controlled prescription drugs.  This is just one of example of how DEA is working hand-in-hand with its law enforcement and community partners in an effort to stem the tide of controlled prescription drugs.”

Last April Americans turned in 450 tons (900,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at almost 5,500 sites operated by the DEA and more than 4,200 of its state and local law enforcement partners. Overall, in its 13 previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 8.1 million pounds—more than 4,050 tons—of pills.  The disposal service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. (The DEA cannot accept liquids, needles, or sharps, only pills or patches.)

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.  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 91 Americans die each day from an opioid overdose.  Some painkiller abusers move on to heroin: Four out of five new heroin users started with painkillers.

Flushing medications down the toilet or throwing them in the trash pose potential safety and health hazards.  This initiative addresses the public safety and public health issues that surround medications languishing in home cabinets, becoming highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse.

For more information or to locate a collection site near you, go the DEA Prescription Drug Take Back Day web site at https://takebackday.dea.gov/#collection-locator where you can search by zip code, city, or state.

In Bladen County, the Bladen County Sheriff’s Office located at 299 Smith Circle in Elizabethtown and the Elizabethtown Police Department located at 805 West Broad Street, Elizabethtown, have medication drop off boxes where you can place your unused medications.

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