Hand Over Your Drugs to Police

The Fair Haven Police Department (FHPD) will take part in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day, a nationwide effort by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to help people dispose of their prescription drugs safely.

FHPD will collect drugs at the Fair Haven Youth Center on 35 Fisk Street, directly behind the police department, from 10a.m. – 2p.m. on Saturday, April 30.  

“Clean out your medicine cabinets, and anything that is lingering that you want to get rid off. We will get them off you hands and will dispose of them properly,” said FHPD Detective Jesse Dykstra. 

The FHPD is one of over thousands of sites that are collecting prescription drugs on that day. According to the DEA, over 4,700 sites nationwide have joined the effort—now in its second year—aimed at preventing pill abuse and theft of prescription drugs. The number of collection sites jumped this year, up by 600, as last year 4,100 sites collected the drugs nationwide.

New Jersey alone collected 14,436 pounds of prescription drugs last year. Nationwide, 242,000 pounds, or 121 tons, of prescription drugs were collected, according to the DEA.

Dykstra said that prescription drugs are one of the top five drugs abused by juveniles—landing at number four—and Fair Haven is doing its part so these drugs don’t get into the hands of our children.

Not only residents, but anyone, can stop by FHPD’s collection site to dispose of their prescription drugs. Once done collecting the drugs, the FHPD will turn the drugs over to the DEA, which will dispose of them, according to Dykstra.

The FHPD will be collecting the prescription drugs and it is “completely anonymous,” said Dykstra, indicating that people’s names or other information will not be collected. Before turning in any pill bottles, labels can be removed, Dykstra said.

No syringes or sharpened instruments will be accepted, Dykstra said. In addition, according to Dykstra, if an “illicit drug or contraband” is turned in, the FHPD “will have to follow the agency’s policy and will do a follow-up investigation.”

According to a press release by the DEA, the national initiative addresses a vital public safety and health issue. It cites rates of prescription drug abuse that are “alarmingly high.” The DEA cites a 2009 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, that showed “more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined.”

While the main reason of the Drug Take Back Day is to prevent prescription drugs from falling into the wrong hands, Dykstra also pointed out another underlying reason: To keep the drugs from affecting water run-off. If people dispose of their drugs via flushing them in the bathroom, it could have adverse affects. Indeed, according to the DEA, many Americans lack the knowledge of how to properly dispose of unused medicines—often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away—which the DEA cites as potential safety and health hazards.

“Studies have shown that, for many, prescription drugs are the very first drugs they abuse—and all too often they aren’t the last. That is why we are committed to helping Americans keep their homes safe by ridding their medicine cabinets of expired, unused, and unwanted drugs,” DEA Administrator Michele Leonhart said.