CHARLESTON, W.Va. — It’s once again time to get rid of your unused or expired prescription medications in your homes to help prevent the risks they can pose.
The DEA’s twice-yearly National Drug Take Back Day returns for the fall.
Regional and local law enforcement agencies will be hosting Drug Take Back events across the country and the state this Saturday, October 26 as part of the initiative.
The Kanawha County Sheriffs Office will have an event set up at three of their main detachments in Elkview, Quincy, and Cross Lanes this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Sergeant Joshua Lester with the Kanawha County Sheriffs Office said this event helps prevent unused prescription medications from falling into the wrong hands.
Drug Take Back Day,
photo courtesy of the DEA
“The biggest mission in this is for people to get in their cabinets and find all of this old medication that maybe they’ve been holding onto that they haven’t thrown away or don’t know what to do with, and just help them get it out of their house so we can safely dispose of it,” Lester said.
He said whether it’s someone who may be prone to substance abuse, an elderly person at risk of getting broken into if someone has knowledge they are holding onto prescription pills, children or animals, it helps prevent a number of risky situations.
Lester said they have found that by taking preventative measures such as Drug Take Back, it helps to better tackle the state’s ongoing drug crisis as a whole.
“That’s the biggest thing, we’re just trying to do our part to help get these prescription drugs off of the streets and out of the wrong hands, because like I said, it becomes very easy when they’re in the home,” he said.
He said statistics from last October’s Drug Take Back Day alone shows they managed to collect over 130 pounds of prescription medications they turned into the DEA for disposal.
Lester said that helps contribute to the overall impact the initiative is having everywhere.
“That’s just one little part in Kanawha County, so you can imagine on a national level what they’re actually doing on this one day,” he said.
Lester said they’re accepting tablets, capsules, patches or any other type of solid forms of prescription medications. He said liquid medications such as syrups should stay in their original containers and tightly sealed if you plan to bring in those.
Lester lays out the medications they will not be accepting.
“We don’t want any sharps or syringes brought in, obviously if there are any illicit drugs that somebody may have, this is not the place to dispose of those, we would rather you call 911 and we would have a deputy come and collect those,” said Lester.
KCSO will hold Drug Take Back Day Saturday at three of its detachments including:
. Elkview — 1078 Main Street
. Quincy — 2700 East Dupont Avenue
. Cross Lanes — 903 Cross Lanes Drive
There will also be events at several Charleston locations including:
. Walgreens — 655 Washington St. W.
. Drug Emporium — 1603 Kanawha Boulevard W.
. WV Drug Intervention Institute — 118 Capitol St.
. Fruth Pharmacy — 854 Oakwood Rd.
. Kroger, Ashton Place — 1100 Fledderjohn Rd.
. State Capitol Complex Safe Zone adjacent to the Culture Center — 1900 Kanawha Blvd. E.
Several municipalities have drop-off locations including Nitro at the police department located at 497 1st Ave. South.
Jackson County Health Department Administrator Amy Haskins reiterates that this initiative protects a number of vulnerable people in your home, as well as prevents any outsiders from getting a hold of the medications.
“Whether you’re talking about visitors coming into your home who might be there every so often, teenagers that might be in the house or smaller children, being able to make sure that you do not have medication available by any means, other than the person who needs to take it, will protect not only your household, but it will protect your community,” Haskins said.
In Jackson County, Haskins said they will have three Drug Take Back locations set up from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. as well, including:
. Ravenswood Volunteer Fire Department — 333 Virginia St.
. Kenna Volunteer Fire Department
. Walgreens in Ripley — 635 Main St.
Haskins said the event is completely anonymous and they try to make it as easy as possible for people to do.
“You bring it to us, however you want to package it up, they prefer it to be in its original bottle, but if you feel the need to put it in a Ziploc bag or a Kroger bag or whatever, you just drop it off, we drop it into a box, and there are absolutely no questions asked,” she said.
According to the DEA, in April they collected a total of 335 tons of prescription medications from Drug Take Back events, and last Oct., approximately 300 tons.
Haskins said the DEA is able to safely dispose of all of the medications they receive through the initiative.
“It is put all together with what has been collected throughout the state of West Virginia and it’s driven to an incinerator so it can be incinerated and disposed of properly,” Haskins said. “Medication is not anything that you would want to flush down the toilet, or we’ve had stories of people burying things in their backyard.”
National Drug Take Back Day is held during the last Saturday in April and October every year.
You can find a Drug Take Back location near you by visiting DEA.gov/ Drug Take Back Day.