Mainstreet Daily News
The Lake City Police Department (LCPD) collected 137 pounds of medications during the Oct. 29 Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.
According to a Nov. 15 LCPD release, the nationwide event is designed for people to properly dispose of unwanted, unused, and expired medications in a safe and anonymous manner. The event helps fight the growing nationwide addiction crisis.
The LCPD was one of several local agencies that participated in the Oct. 29 event.
At the event, citizens can anonymously dispose of their entire prescription bottle or can place medications directly into the disposal box. Illicit substances, needles, inhalers or compressed air cylinders are not accepted and doctors, veterinarians, pharmacies or hospitals are not permitted to dispose of medications at the events.
After the collection, the DEA incinerates the disposal boxes.
“Properly disposing of prescription medications helps in several ways,” said Lake City Police Chief Gerald Butler in the release. “By incinerating these medications, they are not going to landfills or into drinking water and they are no longer available for illegal sales or usage.”
In Florida, 27,624 pounds were collected at 198 sites statewide during the 23rd National Take Back Day on Oct. 29. Click here to see the final nationwide numbers provided by the DEA. Since the program started, DEA has collected 560,744 pounds of prescription drugs in Florida and 8,318 tons nationwide.