Sheriff's Office To Hold Prescription Drug Take-Back Day

The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office and the Haralson-Paulding Drug Task Force will partner together to participate in the second-annual nationwide prescription drug “Take-Back” initiative that seeks to prevent increased pill abuse and theft. PCSO and HPDTF will be collecting potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs for destruction at the Paulding County Sheriff’s Office (247 Industrial Way N., Dallas) on Saturday, April 30, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.

This initiative, headed by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Most people are not aware that medicines found in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse and abuse. The rates of prescription drug abuse, accidental poisonings and overdoses are increasing throughout the United States at an alarming rate. The DEA warns that the majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including the home medicine cabinet. In addition, they warn that most Americans do not know how to properly dispose of their unused or unwanted medication, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away—both potential safety and health hazards.

The DEA reports that everyday an average of 2,500 teens use prescription drugs to get high for the first time. According to the 2008 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an average of 5,965 persons per day in 2008 abused prescription pain relievers for the first time. The total number of individuals that initiated with a controlled substance pharmaceutical (pain relievers, stimulants, tranquilizers, and sedatives) for the first time exceeded the number of individuals that abused marijuana for the first time. The majority of teens believe that prescription drugs are easier to obtain than illicit drugs.

“Prescription drug abuse is a rapidly growing drug problem, and this take-back event is an invaluable tool that we can use to reduce the threat of drug abuse that these prescription drugs pose,” Georgia Bureau of Investigations Assistant Special Agent in Charge Jimmy Tarvin said for a Paulding County Sheriff’s Office news release. “The partnership of local agencies is key in our efforts to reduce prescription drug abuse and misuse.”

“We are reaching out to individuals in our community to encourage them to get rid of their household prescription drugs that pose a safety hazard and can contribute to prescription drug abuse,” Paulding County Sheriff Gary Gulledge said in the release. “The Paulding County Sheriff’s Office is committed to doing everything possible to make our community safer, and this initiative represents a new front in our efforts.”

Collection sites in every local community nationwide can be found by going to www.dea.gov. This site will be continuously updated with new take-back locations.