Don't Flush -- Get Rid of Drugs at Take-Back Day

Next Saturday, Oct. 26, you get another chance to dispose of your unwanted, expired and unused prescription drugs.

The BAY Team and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) are teaming up again from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for a Drug Take-Back Day.

“It will be the seventh opportunity in three years to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding your homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs,” said Kathy Sullivan, program manager for the BAY Team, Barrington’s drug coalition.

Bring your medications for disposal to the Barrington Police Station at 100 Federal Road.  The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked. 

The BAY Team has collected more than 600 pounds of expired or unused medications, said Sullivan.

Last April, Americans turned in 371 tons (over 742,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at over 5,800 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners.  In its six previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in over 2.8 million pounds—more than 1,400 tons—of pills. 

The BAY Team has also worked with the Barrington Police Department to install a permanent collection box in the lobby of the police station.  If you are not able to make it to a DEA Take Back Day, simply drop off your excess medications in the green box on the left hand side of the lobby.

“This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue,” Sullivan said. 

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, she said. 

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.