Miles Memorial Hospital’s Family room was busy Saturday as hundreds of local residents brought in unused prescription, non-prescription medications and vitamins for proper handling and disposal.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in conjunction with state and local law enforcement agencies throughout the United States conducts National Prescription Drug Take Back Day twice yearly. DEA collections allow people to drop off unused medications with no questions asked
Over 13,000 pounds of unused medications were dropped off across the State of Maine on the last DEA sponsored collection day. That is just 100 pounds less than was collected in Massachusetts according to pharmacist Brent Peters.
On Saturday, Peters opened and dumped medications into a huge bin while observed and protected by Damariscotta Police Officer Rich Alexander and Lincoln County Sheriff’s Deputy, Michael Gustafson.
Peters accepted zip lock bags and paper bags full of unused medications. He carefully blacked out any identifying information on the medicine bottles and separated them into a huge trash bag that he takes for recycling. ‘You should have seen their faces at the transfer station the first time I pulled in with a pick-up bed full of bags of empty prescription bottles,” he said.
After assisting with the medication drop-off in the past, Peters said he realized that just ensuring proper disposal of the unused medicines was important, but that by taking that one step more and recycling, he could lessen the impact of the plastic as well.
The Drug Enforcement Administration encourages people to drop off unused prescriptions as part of an effort to prevent drug abuse. The DEA’s website says the first two collections took in more than 309 tons of pills. The drugs are incinerated. When people dispose of unused prescriptions, they often flush them. That can send unwanted medicines into the water supply.
If a local person has unused prescription drugs that need disposal when there is not a drop-off day soon, they can take the medications to the Damariscotta Police Dept. said Officer Richard Alexander.
“We are always willing to take unused medications and insure they are disposed of safely,” Alexander said. “This DEA drop-off is a huge help, but you don’t have to wait if there are things that should not be around the house.”
Lincoln County Sheriff Michael Gustafson agreed. “It is important for people to know when a loved one passes away, for example, that the medicines around the house should be removed right away,” he said.
All three of the professionals agreed. ” Hospice is doing such a great job now that medicines in increasing strength may be given in homes,” Peters said. “We can’t emphasize enough how important it is to dispose of them properly.”
According to the DEA publicity release dated May 6, the DEA plans to continue to offer take-back opportunities twice yearly to increase the safety of the public and reduce the opportunity for abuse of these medications.
