Record amount of meds collected during event
Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele and the Police Chiefs Association of Montgomery County announced that more than 9,000 pounds of unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medicines were collected on the recent Drug Take Back Day, Oct. 27.
The boxes of drugs, which filled nearly two box trucks, will be safely destroyed.
The total was 9,056.96 pounds, which breaks down into 1,508.86 collected that day; 6,538.9 pounds collected from MedReturn boxes located at police departments throughout the county; and 1,009.2 pounds collected from MedReturn boxes at area hospital facilities, the Montgomery courthouse and via the Mobile MINI Pill car outings
around the county.
“This amount is astounding,” said Steele. “Each time,
we have a collection day, we keep receiving more and more prescription and OTC drugs, which means people are disposing of these medicines safely by turning them in and making their homes safer in the process. Hopefully, it also means that people are taking just what they need in terms of their prescription medicines and then getting rid of the rest of the unwanted pills by dropping them off on a Take Back Day or at one of the more than 50 permanent boxes.”
Since the Take Back program began in 2010, now more than 60,000 pounds of medicines have been collected and safely disposed of. The last Take Back day in April brought in nearly 8,000 pounds (7,981 pounds) and last October, more than 7,700 pounds were collected (7,789.42 pounds).
If residents missed Take Back Day, unwanted medications can be dropped off and disposed of throughout the year at more than 50 permanent prescription drug disposal boxes, some of which were sponsored by the Pennsylvania District Attorneys Association and some by Pennsylvania American Water in an effort to help keep our water supply safe.
The complete list of permanent locations can be found on the District Attorney’s Office website at www. montcopa.org/da.