Your bone has mended or you’ve recovered from that trip to the dentist, but now what do you do with those excess painkillers your doctor prescribed?
You don’t want to flush your medications or throw them in the trash because they’ll leach into the environment. But you also don’t want to keep them around the house.
"Overdoses from prescription painkillers, heroin and other drugs led to 171 deaths in 2013, that’s our latest data,” said Bill Leitzinger, state coordinator for National Prescription Drug-Takeback Day.
Drug overdose deaths in Delaware have jumped by more than 60 percent from 2006 to 2012, according to data from Delaware Health Statistics Center.
And many of these people gain access to prescription drugs by stealing them from a friend or a family member.
This drug take-back program is part of a concerted effort between pharmacists, physicians and the Department of Public Health to curb prescription drug abuse and overdoses. The medical industry is currently reevaluating the amounts and the types of painkillers they’re prescribing.
The industries are also looking at the stream of medication from the time it leaves the pharmacy. They want to know where drugs go and they want to know whether people are disposing of drugs properly.
This Saturday you’ll be able to drop off medications at 26 sites around the state between the hours of 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. You don’t need identification and no questions will be asked.
In the six years Delaware has been participating in this program, it has collected more than 52,000 pounds of medications.
Find drug disposal locations HERE or call 302-744-4546 EXT. 5.
