179 Pounds Of Expired Drugs Collected In Fairfax City

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City Police collected 179 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, Fairfax County has a number of permanent dropbox locations, including:

• West Springfield Police Station, 6140 Rolling Road, Springfield, VA 22152; 703-644-7377
• Town of Herndon Police Station, 397 Herndon Parkway, #300, Herndon, VA; 703-435-6846
• Walgreens Pharmacy: Available in the following locations: Alexandria, Annandale, Centreville, and Springfield
• Spectrum Healthcare Resources, 10580 Arrowhead Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030; 571-432-2600
• Kaiser Reston, 1890 Metro Center Drive, Reston, VA 20190; 703-709-1560

179lbs of expired and unwanted prescription medications were collected as a part of the DEA National Drug Take Back Day! Thank you to everybody who came out and helped make our community safer from the misuse of prescription drugs. #DrugTakeBackDay #grateful4ourcommunity pic.twitter.com/Vwsp4arfUa
— Fairfax City Police (@FairfaxCityPD) April 24, 2021