| Drug Take Back Event |
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DOUGLAS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE TAKING BACK UNWANTED PRESCRIPTION DRUGS SATURDAY OCTOBER 29th AT WALGREENS (132nd & Center.) Omaha, NE – On Saturday October 29th from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office (DCSO), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), LiveWise Coalition, and Walgreens will give the public another opportunity 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 Walgreens at 132nd & Center. Tablets, capsules, and all other solid dosage forms will be collected. Intravenous solutions, injectables, and syringes will not be accepted. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. A Deputy Sheriff will be on hand to accept the medications and properly dispose of them. We do ask that drug reps, pharmacists, and clinics refrain from dropping excess inventory at the event. Last April, Americans turned in over 376,593 pounds—188 tons—of prescription drugs at 5,361 sites operated by more than 3,800 state and local law enforcement partners. On the previous two Take Back Days combined, DEA and its partners collected over 618,000 pounds, or 309 tons, of prescription drugs. 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. Last Fall, 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. |