Agency’s headquarters located on Adams Lane
The Sarasota Police Department will partner with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) on Saturday, Oct. 28, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., for National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, the Police Department has announced.
The event will allow community residents “to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs,” a news release explains. “While the drop-box in the lobby of the Sarasota Police Department is available year-round,” the release adds, members of the public are encouraged to bring expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs to the agency’s headquarters on National Take-Back Day. The facility stands at 2099 Adams Lane in downtown Sarasota (34237).
“This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue,” the release points out. Medications in home cabinets “are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse,” the release notes. Unused or expired prescription medications lead “to accidental poisoning, overdose, and abuse,” the release says. Further, it points out, “Unused prescription drugs thrown in the trash can be retrieved, abused, or illegally sold.”
Proper disposal of unused drugs also can protect the environment, the continues. Prescription drugs that are flushed “can contaminate water supplies.”
Drop-off sites can accept tablets, capsules, patches, and other solid forms of prescription medications, the release explains. “Only specific sites can accept liquids, needles, or sharps.”
Moreover, the release notes, the DEA National Take-Back Day entails no expense, and the process is anonymous, with no questions asked.
During the last National Take-Back Day, in April, the DEA collected 332 tons (663,725 pounds) of expired, unwanted, and unused prescription medications nationwide, the release adds.
Learn more about the event at www.deatakeback.com or by calling 800-882-9539.