Drug Take-Back Event This Weekend In Troutdale

TROUTDALE, OR — This weekend, law enforcement agencies in coordination with the Drug Enforcement Administration will host drug take-back events at local police departments across the country.

For the past seven years, the DEA has worked with its law enforcement partners to collect and dispose of potentially dangerous, expired, unused, and/or unwanted prescription medications, ultimately taking in more than 8.1 million pounds of pills over 13 drug take-back events. During the last nationwide drug take-back event, 5,500 DEA-operated sites and 4,200 local police-operated sites collected around 900,000 pounds of prescription drugs.

From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 28, the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office and DEA representatives will host a drug take-back at the Troutdale Police Community Center at 234 S.W. Kendall Ct.

This service is free to all, with complete anonymity given to anyone interested in getting rid of their unwanted/unneeded medications.

"Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse," Multnomah County Sheriff's spokesman Lt. Chad Gaidos said in a statement. "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… (and) studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet."

Additionally, Gaidos said, personally disposing of medications by flushing them down the toilet or putting them in the trash to be take to landfills creates health and safety hazards to wildlife and the environment.

"Disposing of leftover painkillers or other addictive medicines in the house is one of the best ways to prevent a member of your family from becoming a victim of the opioid epidemic," DEA Acting Administrator Robert W. Patterson said in a statement. "More people start down the path of addiction through the misuse of opioid prescription drugs than any other substance. The abuse of these prescription drugs has fueled the nation's opioid epidemic, which has led to the largest rate of overdose deaths this country has ever seen."

For those who are unable to make it out during the Saturday event, facilities in Troutdale and Fairview accept medications for disposal year round, Gaidos said.

For information on those facilities, such as locations and hours of operation, visit mcso.us.

Image: katicaj via Pixabay.com