The National Drug Enforcement Administration will host the National Take Back Day Initiative on Saturday, Oct. 26, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is a safe and convenient opportunity for Lincoln County residents to dispose of unwanted and outdated medications.
Unless handled properly, prescription drugs have the potential to cause great and lasting harm to both the natural environment and our communities. The goal of the Take Back Day Initiative is to try to prevent such harm from happening by assisting the public with the often complicated and messy task of medication disposal while raising awareness of the dangers of prescription drug abuse.
Lincoln County will have five medication collection sites. There will be law enforcement officers at all five sites. Please do not attempt to leave medication outside of scheduled hours. The collection sites for Lincoln County are the following.
Boothbay Harbor – Boothbay Harbor Town Office
Wiscasset- Lincoln County Communication Center
Damariscotta – LincolnHealth Miles Campus
Waldoboro – Sproul Block Apartments
Whitefield (Coopers Mills) – Sheepscot Valley Health
Prescription and non-prescription medications, over-the-counter substances, and medications for pets will be accepted, as well as liquid pharmaceutical products such as cough syrup. All liquid pharmaceuticals should remain in original containers with caps sealed to prevent leakage. Needles and syringes will not be accepted.
The public will not subjected to any questions regarding medications, nor will there be any record made of particular types, or amounts, of medications brought to collection sites. Every effort will be made to protect privacy. Participants are encouraged to remove all personal identifying information from prescription labels before disposing of medications.
The good news is that the Drug Take Back Day Initiative is working. Thanks to an alert and concerned public, prescription drugs are more difficult to acquire in Maine than ever before.
As evidenced by the over 90,000 lbs of unused, expired or unwanted medications surrendered to 140 participating law enforcement agencies during the previous six drug take back efforts, communities truly see the importance of removing these potentially dangerous substances from their households. Through incineration, these medications will never have the ability to get into the hands of a toddler or enter the water system through flushing.
Please join the fight against drug abuse in Lincoln County and bring all unwanted medications to a collection site on Saturday, Oct. 26.
