The Saline County Sheriff's Office will join law enforcement agencies across the country participating in National Prescription Drug Take Back Day on Saturday.
Saline County Sheriff's personnel are scheduled to be at Walmart, 2900 South Ninth Street, and Sam's Club, 2919 Market Place, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday to collect for safe disposal unused and unneeded prescription drugs.
If you're not able to take your medications to one of the above locations during those times, you can drop them off in the red collection bin in the lobby of the sheriff's office, 251 North 10th Street, between 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding county holidays.
During the collection day last fall, the sheriff's office collected more than 200 pounds of unused/unneeded prescription medications. The sheriff's office has collected nearly 10,000 pounds of unused/unneeded prescription medications since it began collecting them in late 2009.
Since 2010, more than 95 tons of unwanted medications have been collected and destroyed in Kansas, the Kansas Attorney General's Office reported.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), 441.4 tons of unused/unneeded prescription medications were collected across the country during the 18th national take back day in October 2019.
Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. Nationwide, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates opioid overdoses kill nearly 130 Americans every day. According to the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, pharmaceutical opioids are a leading cause of drug poisoning deaths in Kansas.
Studies show a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that traditional methods for disposing of unused medicines – flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash – pose potential safety and health hazards and should be avoided.