October 28 is National Drug Take Back Day. Families can find their closest take-back site on https://www.dea.gov/takebackday where they can safely dispose of unneeded medications… No questions asked.
Every six months the DEA and the Raleigh County Sheriff’s Department hold a drug take back so it’s an important time to clean out your cabinets.
“Get rid of unused drugs that your doctor’s taken you off of, strengths that have changed… things that you think that you don’t need to have in your possession anymore,” said Crab Orchard pharmacist Kathlyn Sallaz.
You can turn in anything, even leave your name on the bottle — they incinerate it.
“Patient information is kept confidential. Liquids need to be kept separated but they can be turned in as well,” Sallaz said. “Aerosols, like inhalers — they have to be separated. Everything can be turned in, just we ask that it’s separated.
Pharmacist Kathlyn says Drug Take Back Day is a great program overseen by the DEA in order to keep our communities safer.
“So that kids don’t rifle through cabinets and get into medications accidentally. So that people don’t break into your homes in search of medications,” she said.
October 28 from 10 to 2 hand your drugs directly to a sheriff’s department representative… who then turns it over to a DEA representative.
“Kids a lot of times are victims to accidental overdoses; that’s the worse case scenario,” said Sallaz.
The pharmacist says often it’s a mistake of taking the wrong medication, something that’s been stopped or the wrong strength of a medication you’re no longer taking. So it’s important to get those types of things out of your house.
According to Kathlyn, if anybody’s passed away in your family and you want to get rid of their medication; but don’t know what to do…
“It’s important not to flush those things — you don’t want it in the water supply,” the pharmacist said. “This way it’s all burned and gotten rid of the correct way.”
