Law enforcement agencies prepare for National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day - WAAY
More than 27,000 pounds of outdated and unwanted medications have been collected at community take-back events in Huntsville since the first medication take-back event in 2010.
Law enforcement agencies are gearing up for National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day.
Saturday, people can head to the Huntsville Police Department to drop off outdated or unwanted prescriptions. Multiple different agencies and organizations will be collecting medications from 8:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m. It's as easy as driving by, dropping off unwanted medications, and feeling a sense of relief knowing your unwanted prescriptions won't be contributing to the opioid epidemic.
"Everyday there, it's like there's a constant flow of calls between overdoses and, um, some type of call that's dealing with opiates," says Sgt. Dequan Hyter with the Huntsville Police Department.
HPD is receiving an overwhelming number of opiate related calls. Sgt. Hyter says, "It's increasing at an alarming rate of people who overdose."
But this is not a new trend.
"Just a few years ago, Alabama was the number one state in the country, not in the best of ways. We wrote more prescriptions for opioids than any other place in the country," says Wendy Reeves, the executive director of Partnership for a Drug-Free Community.
Nowadays, Reeves explains, "you're really hard pressed to find someone who has not been touched by the opioid epidemic."
She says people often don't know what to do with their drugs after they have recovered from surgery.
"Every time you have a surgery you're going to be prescribed some kind of pain medication. I hear from people all the time, 'they gave me all these pain pills and I took one or I didn't take any of them,' so they need to get rid of them," says Reeves.
That's why medication take-back events are crucial in making sure unwanted opiates don't add to the opioid epidemic.
"A bunch of us that work together to make this happen, that is because it's so important in our community to get these drugs off the streets," explains Reeves.
More than 27,000 pounds of outdated and unwanted medications have been collected at community take-back events in Huntsville since the first medication take-back event in 2010.
For those who can't come to the event on Saturday, there are more than 15 locations throughout Madison and Huntsville you can go to any time of the year and get rid of your medications, no questions asked.
source: https://www.waaytv.com/content/news/Law-enforcement-agencies-prepare-for-National-Prescription-Drug-Take-Back-Day-575589961.html
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