When it is increasingly clear that the vast majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, events like the upcoming National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day are more important than ever before. If you have unused prescription drugs anywhere in your home, you have a chance to safely dispose of them late this month.
The Voice. Change. Hope. Alliance is partnering with Spectrum Health Lakeland and local law enforcement for this spring’s National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day in Michigan’s Great Southwest on Saturday, April 27th from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm. The collaborative effort will provide a secure, convenient, and responsible drive-through service for community members to dispose of unwanted or unused prescription drugs.
The event will take place near the southeast corner of the Spectrum Health Lakeland Center for Outpatient Services, located at 3900 Hollywood Road in St. Joseph and Spectrum Health Lakeland Medical Suites, located at 42 N. St. Joseph Avenue in Niles. Signs placed throughout the complex will direct drivers to the covered, drop off location.
Anyone who is not able to participate on National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day can anonymously drop off their unused and unwanted medications for disposal at the Niles Law Enforcement Complex 24-hours-a-day, and at any other local law enforcement department, Monday through Friday from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, excluding holidays. The service is free and anonymous with no questions asked.
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 medications, such as flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash, pose potential health and safety hazards.
In the fall of 2017, Americans nationwide did their part to reduce the opioid crisis by bringing the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and its more than 4,200 local and tribal law enforcement partners a record-setting 912,305 pounds—456 tons—of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs for disposal at more than 5,300 collection sites. This brings the total amount of prescription drugs collected by DEA since the fall of 2010 to 9,015,668 pounds, or 4,508 tons.
Additional collection sites in Berrien County can be located on the community resources tab at www.voicechangehope.org. Collection sites across the state of Michigan can be found by visiting www.dea.gov.
