Crime & Safety

Monroe Teams with DEA to Dispose of Expired Prescription and Over-the-Counter Drugs

DEA Drug Take Back Day will be held at the Monroe Senior Center Saturday

Pain killers and other kinds of prescription drugs often linger in medicine cabinets long after residents have stopped using them. Left alone, these drugs could wind up in the wrong hands.

Monroe Police Chief John Salvatore said it is not uncommon for young people to start using the drugs, which can become a gateway to more elicit narcotics.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration started the DEA Drug Take Back Day last year to give citizens an opportunity to dispose of their unwanted, unused and expired prescription and over-the-counter drugs to get these substances to prevent misuse and theft.

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Monroe participated last year and will do so again this Saturday at the Senior Center, 235 Cutlers Farm Road, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will be done in conjunction with the DEA, Monroe Police Department, Social & Senior Services and the Monroe TRIAD.

"Last year we didn't know what to expect," Salvatore said. "It was very successful. People turned in over 20 pounds of unwanted and no longer needed prescription and over-the-counter drugs, so they were able to properly dispose of them. We expect this year to be equally successful."

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Barbara Yeager, director of Monroe Senior and Social Services, said the program is free and anonymous.

"It's simple," Salvatore said. "You drive in. You don’t have to get out of the car. You can just hand it to someone. This is a way to quickly dispose of these drugs and take them out of circulation, so we can hand it over to the federal government to destroy it."

The chief said police officers will be there to participate in the event, but not to do any investigations.

Monroe's triad is made up of the Senior Center, Social Services and the Monroe Police Department

A National Effort

According to the DEA, more than 5,100 sites nationwide have joined the effort that seeks to prevent pill abuse and theft. This is hundreds more sites than were established for the event last fall.

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, according to a DEA press release.

Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high — more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined, according to the 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.

Studies show that individuals that abuse prescription drugs often obtained them from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, many Americans do not know how to properly dispose of their unused medicine, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away – both potential safety and health hazards, the DEA said.

“The overwhelming public response to DEA's first nationwide Take-Back event last fall not only rid homes of potentially harmful prescription drugs, but was an unprecedented opportunity to educate everyone about the growing prescription drug abuse problem," said DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart. “Studies have shown that, for many, prescription drugs are the very first drugs they abuse — and all too often they aren’t the last. That is why we are committed to helping Americans keep their homes safe by ridding their medicine cabinets of expired, unused, and unwanted drugs.”

For information more information, visit dea.gov.


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