Drug Take-Back Day

According to DEA's Mark Thomas, more than half of the drugs abused in this country come from medicines stored in our homes.  "So something as simple as just driving down the street and dropping this stuff off, you're gonna abate or reduce 55 percent of that problem overnight," said Thomas.  

Unfortunately, this four-hour take back sponsored by the DEA still begs the question -- what do I do later if I have unwanted medicines?  Bartell Drugs and Group Health offer ongoing medicine take-back programs -- but they can't take the controlled substances (narcotics).  Some local law enforcement have started collecting unwanted medicines to meet this public safety need. (For locations, go to www.takebackmymeds.org/locations.) There is legislation moving in Congress that will allow for more options to return unwanted medicines. US Representative Jay Inslee (WA-1st Dist) has just passed a bill in the U.S. House that will make it easier to set up take-back programs and reduce medicine diversion and unwanted medicines getting into the environment.  Full article...