SC, DEA collect unused prescription drugs to stop abuse

The first-ever nationwide prescription drug “Take Back” Day initiative is seeking to prevent increased pill abuse and theft.

Collection sites where you can toss out potentially dangerous expired and unused prescription drugs are being set up nationwide this Saturday, September 25. The Drug Enforcement Agency and government, community, public health and law enforcement are partnering in the effort.

One such collection site is the lobby of the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office. “We’re finding that the prescription drug abuse is really getting to reach epidemic proportions,” says Tony Ivey spokesman with the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Department.

Ivey says the service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

It’s very accessible for folks to get a hold of prescription drugs. They’re found in almost every household in the country. And so sometimes when these prescription medications are no longer being used or needed, or they’ve expired or out-dated instead of just leaving them lying around the home, we want to make sure that they’re disposed of in a safe manner.

Ivey says the Spartanburg site is just one of many across the state and the nation.  He says this effort by the Spartanburg County Sheriff’s Office along with others state and nationwide will work hand-in-hand to bring awareness of prescription drug abuse.

We hope that it will be done more frequently in the future. Once we get this first program underneath our belt, see how smoothly that ran, try to do it some more in the future, so that we can rid our community of these prescription drugs.