The Prevention Collaborative, a coalition of non-profit agencies whose goal is to reduce substance abuse in Detroit, is hosting National Prescription Drug Take Back events at two locations on Saturday, September 27th, from 10am to 2pm, to allow metropolitan Detroit residents a place to safely turn in their unused or expired medication for proper disposal. The events, held in partnership with the Detroit Police Department and the U.S. Department of Justice Drug Enforcement Administration, are being held at:
- Butzel Family Center – 7737 Kercheval, Detroit, MI 48214
- The Youth Connection/Old Holy Cross Hospital – 4777 E. Outer Dr., Detroit, MI 48234
All sites will have members of the Detroit Police Department present to oversee the drug take back process and help properly dispose of the medications. The first twenty people to drop off expired and unwanted prescription drugs will receive a free gift card! For proper disposal of medications at the events, please remove pills from their bottles and put them in a clear plastic bag. Please put all controlled substances (pain relievers and other narcotics) in a separate plastic bag.
Last October, Americans turned in 324 tons (over 647,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at over 4,114 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners. When those results are combined with what was collected in its seven previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners have taken in over 3.4 million pounds—more than 1,700 tons—of pills.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that 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 their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.
In a 2009 study from U.S. SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) Drug Abuse Warning Network, Detroit’s rate of ER visits due to pharmaceutical drugs was significantly higher than the national average (310.1 visits to the ER per 100,000 people for Detroit versus 237.8 visits to the ER nationally) due to misuse or abuse of prescription drugs.
Karen Schrock, President and CEO of Adult Well-Being Services, a Prevention Collaborative member, stated, “We need to educate the people of Southeast Michigan, especially our senior citizens, on the dangers of non-medical use of prescription drugs and what they can do to solve the problem. We should all dispose of unused or expired medication properly, not by throwing them away or flushing them down the toilet, which leads to other safety and environmental health hazards.”
The Prevention Collaborative is funded through the Institute for Population Health in Detroit. Its members include: Adult Well Being Services; The Youth Connection; Community Social Services of Wayne County; Gateway Community Health; and People’s Community Services of Metropolitan Detroit.
For more information on the two events listed above, please contact Sandra Cummings at (313) 736-5574. For more information on prescription drug take back events locally, please visit https://tinyurl.com/2014drugtakeback and search for a location near you
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