CLEARFIELD – Residents in Clearfield Borough and the surrounding areas will have the opportunity to safely dispose of their unused prescription drugs.
At Thursday’s Clearfield Borough Council meeting, Police Chief Vince McGinnis announced another Drug Take-back Day will be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. April 30 at the police station.
Mayor James Schell said the police department did not hold a drug take-back day last year, so this would be a very good opportunity for residents to “clean out their medicine cabinets” and get rid of any unused or expired medications that they weren’t able to dispose of last year.
“It’s always been a good program,” McGinnis said. “It’s been very successful in the past and we hope it will continue.”
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration’s Web site, drug take-back sites will be set up throughout communities nationwide so local residents can return their unwanted, unneeded, or expired prescription drugs for safe disposal.
Collection sites in every local community can be found by going to www.dea.gov . This site will be continuously updated with new take-back locations.
The National Prescription Drug Take-Back addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Many Americans are not aware that medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse.
Rates of prescription drug abuse in the United States are at alarming rates, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs. Studies show that many abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.
In addition, many Americans do not know how to properly dispose of their unused medicine, often flushing them down the toilet or throwing them away – both potential safety and health hazards.