Anyone who wants to prevent pill abuse or to clean out their medicine cabinets may turn over their expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday.
The free and anonymous collection is sponsored by the Lycoming County Health Improvement Coalition, Advocates for a Drug Free Tomorrow, local law enforcement and the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Medications may be taken to any of the following sites:
In Lycoming County:
Hughesville Borough Office, 147 S. Fifth St., Hughesville;
Muncy Police Department, 14 N. Washington St., Muncy;
Montoursville State Police barracks, 899 Cherry St., Montoursville;
Pennsdale Civic Center, 261 Village Road, Pennsdale;
South Williamsport Police Department, 331 W. Southern Ave., South Williamsport; or
Tiadaghton Valley Police Department, 129 S. Pennsylvania Ave., Jersey Shore.
In Clinton County:
Bucktail Community Center, 1001 Pine St., Renovo;
Lock Haven Hospital, 24 Cree Drive, Lock Haven; or
Lamar State Police barracks, 7127 Nittany Valley Drive, Mill Hall.
Organizers offer the following tips:
Controlled, non-controlled and over the counter medications will be collected.
The program is anonymous and all efforts should be made to protect the anonymity of individuals disposing of medications. No questions or requests for identification will be made by law enforcement personnel present.
Participants should remove any personal information from bottles or packages that contain pills or capsules and liquids and place the bottles or packages into the disposal box.
No effort should be made by law enforcement personnel to count, inventory or log medications.
Liquid products and creams in their containers will be accepted.
Sharpies and syringes will not be accepted due to the potential hazard posed by blood-borne pathogens.
Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.
Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet. In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines-flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash-both pose potential safety and health hazards.
Four days after the first event, 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. DEAs is drafting regulations to implement the Act, a process that can take as long as 24 months. Until new regulations are in place, the DEA and local law enforcement agencies as well as partnering agencies like Lycoming County Health Improvement Coalition and Advocates for A Drug Free Tomorrow will continue to hold prescription drug take-back events every few months.
