Drug Take-Back Day planned for Oct. 22
Service Directory
The Cameron Police Department and the Drug Enforcement Administration will give the public another opportunity to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs on Saturday, Oct. 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The Cameron Police, DEA and its partner agencies will hold the 6th National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day at sites nationwide. The service is free and anonymous, no questions asked.
“Cameron PD is very pleased to take part in this event in that it will hopefully stem the tide of abuse which happens daily with left over medications or could prevent a young child from accidently ingesting unused drugs,” Cameron Police Chief Randy Dixon said.
The collection site for this year’s event will be the new Cameron Police Department located at 605 West 4th.
Individuals can bring their drugs into the lobby where staff will place them into the collection box for the DEA to pick up and dispose of. There is no charge for this event and the Cameron PD urges everyone to take part. They ask that you place any liquid drugs in a plastic bag.
Americans participating in DEA’s previous Take-Back Days turned in nearly a million pounds - almost 500 tons - of prescription drugs at over 5,300 sites operated by more than 4,000 of the DEA’s state and local law enforcement partners. This initiative addresses a vital public safety and public health issue. Medicines that languish in home cabinets are highly susceptible to diversion, misuse, and abuse.
Rates of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. are alarmingly high - more Americans currently abuse prescription drugs than the number of those using cocaine, hallucinogens, and heroin combined, according to the 2010 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.
Prescription drug abuse is a major epidemic across the country and DEA is committed to reducing the potential for misuse by providing a safe and secure method for Americans to clean out their medicine cabinets and properly dispose of unwanted, unneeded, or expired medication.
Americans have responded overwhelmingly to DEA’s and Cameron PD’s Take-Back Day events, disposing of tons of medication in the past four years.
If you don’t have the time on that one day you can call the Cameron Police Department at (254) 697-6574 and they will be happy to retrieve and deliver the medications to the take back location. This can be between now and the actual date.