DEA Atlanta Hosts Second Pill Take Back Event Over 5,000 Sites (25% More Than 7 Months Ago) Join DEA In Nationwide Effort To Take-Back Prescription Drugs
ATLANTA, GA. - A few weeks prior to the Drug Enforcement Administration’(DEA’s) second National Prescription Drug Take-Back (Saturday, April 30, 2011) 5,146 (25% more sites than were established for the event last fall) nationwide have joined the effort that seeks to prevent pill abuse and theft. The free event will be held from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. local time. Government, community, public health and law enforcement partners at these sites will be working together to collect expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs that are potentially dangerous if left in the family’s medicine cabinet.
Last September, Americans turned in over 242,000 pounds-121 tons-of prescription drugs at nearly 4,100 sites operated by more than 3,000 of the DEA’s state and local law enforcement partners. Also last fall, Congress passed the Safe and Secure Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow users 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 presently drafting regulations to implement the Act.
Collection sites in every local community can be found by going to www.dea.gov and clicking on the “Got Drugs?” banner at the top of the home page, which connects to a database that citizens can search by zip code, city or county. This site is continuously updated with new take-back locations. In addition, interested media can now go to: www.nationaltakebackday.com to download a public service announcement about the initiative.
