Got drugs? Dozens of locations Saturday to collect unneeded prescriptions
Posted: Friday, April 27, 2012 1:00 pm | Updated: 5:00 pm, Fri Apr 27, 2012.
Patients call it Fentanyl. Addicts call it “murder 8.”
Adderalls are affectionately dubbed “beauties” and Oxycontin holds the moniker “hillbilly heroin.”
An estimated 20 percent of Americans use these and other prescription drugs for nonmedical reasons, according to the National Institutes of Health.
More Americans abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined, according to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.
In a desperate bid to curb prescription drug abuse, law enforcement agencies again have scheduled collection events across the nation on Saturday.
Drugs will be collected at 43 locations in Bucks and 25 in Montgomery. Collections are scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Organizers say drugs will be collected anonymously and without charge.
More than 3,800 pounds of medication was collected during events in Bucks County last fall. Officials reported 850 pounds of medication collected in Bucks in 2010.
Nationwide, the DEA reports nearly 1 million pounds of prescription and over-the-counter drugs collected since 2009.
Families often find themselves with a large collection of unwanted drugs following death of an elderly loved one, said Lambert Tolbert, program specialist with the Bucks County Drug and Alcohol Commission. Most of those who participate are older, typically over the age of 55, he said.
“Lots of times people will come to the collections with literally boxes of medication,” Tolbert said. “People bring in patches. Some bring liquid medications in large baggies.
“It never ceases to amaze me how much some people will have at home in their medicine cabinets,” Tolbert added. “Many bring pet medications to the collection events.”
Accepted products include prescription and over-the-counter medications such as tablets and capsules, liquid medications, inhalers, creams, ointments and nasal sprays.
The county said it cannot accept any intravenous drugs, injectables or needles. Volunteers also will not accept any illegal drugs such as marijuana or methamphetamine.
Collected drugs will be transfered to the DEA and incinerated by the government, Tolbert said. For more information or the locate the closest collection site, visitwww.dea.gov
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More than 4,000 pounds of prescription drugs surrendered
Posted: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 12:00 pm | Updated: 3:00 pm, Tue May 1, 2012.
More than 4,000 pounds of prescription drugs surrendered 0 comments
BUCKS COUNTY — The Rx Drug Take Back Committee reports that 4,396 pounds of prescription drugs were dropped off last weekend for proper disposal.
The drugs were surrendered at several police departments throughout the county, including in Lower Makefield, Falls, Yardley and Tullytown.
The drugs were either expired or no longer needed, but now they are off the streets and cannot get into the wrong hands, said Lizette Morales-Chomicki, project coordinator for the Pennsbury Community Prevention Coalition.
Law enforcement officials have said that prescription drug abuse is a major problem in the county.
Also, disposing of medications during the drug take-back events prevents the medications from going into the drinking water supply, since many people in the past have flushed them down a toilet.
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