TAKING BACK DRUGS
County collects more than 7,200 pounds of medications
NORRISTOWN >> Using the slogan “Return of the Medi,” Montgomery County authorities collected and disposed of more than 7,200 pounds of unwanted prescription and over-the-counter medications during the Drug Take Back Day event last month.
Specifically, the county took in a total of 7,252 pounds of the unwanted drugs at participating police departments and five grocery stores on April 24 and at permanent prescription drug disposal boxes placed throughout the county, enough to fill almost two box trucks, according to officials.
Officials explained 2,806 pounds were collected during the one-day event at the 31 participating sites and another 4,446 pounds were collected from 50 permanent MedReturn boxes located at police departments, medical facilities and at the county courthouse. Some of the boxes are sponsored by the Pennsylvania District Attorney’s Association and some by Pennsylvania American Water in an effort to help keep the water supply safe.
During the one-day event, the sites, staffed by police officers, accepted prescription and overthe-counter tablets and capsules, inhalers, liquid medications, creams and ointments, nasal sprays, pet medications and vaping products.
The district attorney’s office typically holds the drug take
back days twice a year, in April and October.
The previous Drug Take Back Day in October 2020, themed “Mask Up & Drop Off,” yielded a record 10,279 pounds of prescriptions and over-the-counter medications, which set a new record for most collected in the county. Officials pointed out that the record amount collected in October was due in part because there was no collection day in April 2020 as the COVID-19 outbreak surfaced.
Since the county Drug Take Back Day program began in 2010, more than 92,000 pounds of medicines have been safely collected and disposed of in the county.
District Attorney Kevin R. Steele has said ridding medicine cabinets of unwanted medications is an important step for the safety of all households. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends and often come from the home medicine cabinet.
Steele has made fighting the opioid epidemic one of his office’s priorities.
With the 7,252 pounds collected, Montgomery County ranked second in the immediate five-county Philadelphia region for the amount of medicines collected during this year’s event, according to officials with the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration’s Philadelphia Field Division.
Amounts collected by the four other counties comprising the Philadelphia region included: Bucks County (9,943 pounds); Delaware County (668 pounds); Chester County (646 pounds); and Philadelphia (204 pounds).
Montgomery County’s Drug Take Back Day coincided with the federal Drug Enforcement Administration’s 20th Drug Take Back Day event.
Special Agent in Charge Jonathan A. Wilson, of the DEA’s Philadelphia field division, said approximately 40,373 pounds of prescription drugs were collected across Pennsylvania and Delaware by the DEA and its partners during this year’s event.
A specific breakdown of amounts collected by regions across Pennsylvania, where a total of 35,206 pounds was collected, and Delaware, where a total of 5,167 pounds was collected, included: Philadelphia (18,713 pounds); Pittsburgh (9,689 pounds); Harrisburg (3,244 pounds); Allentown (2,663 pounds); Scranton (896 pounds); Wilmington, Del. (2,940 pounds); and Dover, Del. (2,227 pounds).
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. has seen an increase in overdose deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, with 83,544 Americans overdosing during the 12-month period ending July 1, 2020, the most ever recorded in a 12-month period. The increase in drug overdose deaths appeared to begin prior to the COVID-19 health emergency, but accelerated significantly during the first months of the pandemic, according to DEA officials.
Additional information about the Montgomery County drug disposal program can be found on the district attorney’s web site at www.montcopa.org/da
More information about DEA events can be found at www.deatakeback.com