WASHINGTON (AP) — A two-year Drug Enforcement Administration initiative called Drug Take-Back Day has taken 2 million pounds of unused, potentially dangerous prescription medications out of circulation.
Last Saturday marked the fifth time Americans have been asked by the DEA and its state and local law enforcement partners to empty medicine cabinets, bedside tables and kitchen drawers of unwanted and expired prescription drugs and deliver them to one of thousands of special disposal sites around the country. The DEA says the latest haul was nearly half a million pounds of drugs.
A recent government survey found that more than 6 million Americans abuse prescription drugs. It revealed that 7 of 10 people abusing prescription pain relievers got them through friends or relatives, a statistic that includes raiding the family medicine cabinet.
