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Sedona Police Take Back Prescription Drugs

sedona times / April 10, 2014 / No Comment

Sedona Police Department Take-Back Drug Day

Sedona Police Department and the DEA offer local Take-Back Drug Day

Sedona Arizona (April 10, 2014) – On April 26, 2014, from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 in the afternoon, the Sedona Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will provide the public its eighth opportunity in three years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs.

Pills for disposal should be brought to City Hall East Parking Lot, 102 Roadrunner Drive, Sedona. The DEA cannot accept liquids or needles or sharps, only pills or patches.

This Prescription Take Back service is free and anonymous, no questions will be asked.

Last October (2013), Americans turned in 324 tons (over 647,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at over 4,114 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners. When those results are combined with collections in seven previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners removed over 3.4 million pounds—more than 1,700 tons—of pills.

This prescription disposal 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 have shown 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 the usual methods for disposing of unused medicines, flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash, pose potential safety and health hazards.

DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” (that is, a patient or a family member or pet owner) of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering same 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 its residents controlled substances under certain instances.