DEA and El Paso Sheriff hold Prescription Drug Take-Back Day
An old illness, a past injury or even the death of a loved one – there are plenty of reasons why you would have old medication lying around. But there’s no good reason to hold onto them.
The Drug Enforcement Administration, El Paso Sheriff’s Office and law enforcement agencies across the country are hosting Prescription Drug Take-Back Day to get people everywhere to get rid of them safely.
“Since we’ve been doing this for the last five years, the DEA was able to take in over 2,700 tons of unused, unwanted or expired prescription drugs,” said Steven Borak, assistant special agent in charge with the El Paso division of the DEA.
That’s a lot of pills. Borak said that even with 5,000 collection sites nationally and 27 sites in El Paso, there’s always more coming in.
“The issues people are having – whether it’s in schools or universities, or just the public in general,” Borak said. “Whether they have a family member that has been touched by some form of abuse or drug addiction that they’re able to see that this is a great initiative to help prevent someone abusing or reselling this for profit.”
The response has been great locally, bringing in over 3,500 pounds last year. And similar amounts are expected this time around.
The DEA holds prescription take-backs twice a year. The next one will be this fall. For more info on the program, you can visit the DEA’s website here.
