205 Pounds Of Expired Drugs Collected In Arlington

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County Police collected 205 pounds of unwanted and expired medications Saturday as part of the DEA National Drug Take Back Day, according to a post on the department's official Twitter account.

According to the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, millions of people every year misuse prescription pain relievers, stimulants, tranquilizers and sedatives. Nearly 50,000 people in the United States died from opioid-involved overdoses that year.

The survey also showed that a majority of misused prescription drugs were obtained from family and friends, often from a home's medicine cabinet.

The last drug take-back event was held in October 2020. During the event, partners collected nearly 985,400 pounds of unused prescription drugs nationwide, the largest amount ever collected in the program's 10 years. More than 403,676 pounds were collected in Virginia.

Nearly 13.7 million pounds of expired, unused and unwanted prescription medications have been collected since the program's inception.

For those who missed Saturday's drop-off event, Arlington has four permanent dropbox locations:

• Arlington County Fire Station #2 – 4805 Wilson Blvd.
• Arlington County Fire Station #5 – 1750 S. Hayes St.
• Arlington County Fire Station #9 – 1900 S. Walter Reed Drive
• Arlington County Police Department – 2000 block of 14th St. N.

Arlington, today you safely disposed of 205 pounds of medications during Drug Take Back Day.

If you missed today’s event, you can still dispose of medications at one of Arlington’s four permanent drug take back locations:https://t.co/zUVteAqKF3 pic.twitter.com/Ozvby7BS2G
— ArlingtonCountyPD (@ArlingtonVaPD) April 24, 2021