Dallas NEWS
September 26, 2012
Contact: Public Information Officer
Dallas Division
214-366-6900
Dallas DEA Gears Up for 5th Local Prescription
Drug Take-Back Day
SEP 26 (DALLAS, TX.)  - Today, Special Agent in Charge James L. Capra, of the Dallas Field Divisions Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), announces the local component of the 5th nationwide prescription drug Take-Back initiative that seeks to prevent increased pill abuse and theft. The DEA, along with its law enforcement partners, will be collecting potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs for destruction at approximately 70 area Dallas/Ft. Worth sites on Saturday, September 29th, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
Americans participating in DEAs four previous Take-Back Days turned in nearly 1.6 million poundsalmost 774 tonsof prescription drugs, most recently at almost 5,700 sites operated by nearly 4,300 of the DEAs law enforcement partners. DEAs last event collected more than double the pills as their first event two years ago, with almost 50% more participating agencies and sites this past April than in September of 2010.
This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse. Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high--more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined, according to the 2011 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. Prescription drug abuse has become a serious public health and safety issue and it is the Nations fastest-growing drug problem, said Special Agent in Charge Capra. Oftentimes, the most common source for access to prescription drugs is the home medicine cabinet.
With this National Prescription Drug Take-Back campaign, we are aggressively reaching out to individuals to encourage them to rid their households of unused prescription drugs. In working together with our state and local partners, the medical community, anti-drug coalitions, and a concerned public, we can eliminate a major source of abused drugs.
The public can find a nearby collection site by visiting www.dea.gov, clicking on the Got Drugs? icon, and following the links to a database where they enter their zip code.
Four days after DEAs first Take-Back event on September 25 two years ago, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an ultimate user of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them. The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents controlled substances in certain instances. DEA is in the process of drafting regulations to implement the Act.