EBR Sheriffs hosting "prescripton drug take back" Saturday | Events

From the Sheriff's office

The East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office along with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) will host a prescription drug take back Saturday, September 29 from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. at Oschner Health Center located off of O’Neal Lane at 16777 Medical Center in Baton Rouge.

The event will allow members of the public to anonymously drop off unwanted, unused, expired or potentially dangerous prescription drugs. No questions asked.

In April 2011 sites collected 552,161 pounds—276 tons—of prescription drugs at over 5,600 sites operated by the DEA and nearly 4,300 state and local law enforcement partners.  In its four previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in more than 1.5 million pounds—nearly 775 tons—of pills. 

Law enforcement feels this initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue by preventing prescription drug abuse.  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.  Until new regulations are in place, local law enforcement agencies like the East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Office and the DEA will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events.

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