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Politics & Government

Palo Alto Drug Drop-Off Set Saturday at Stanford

Expired, unused, unwanted medications to be collected as part of a nationwide DEA effort.

The Stanford University Department of Public Safety is holding a prescription-drug drop-off Saturday from 10 a.m.  to 2 p.m. at 711 Serra St. as part of the 7th National Prescription Drug Take Back Day.  

The department, along with the Drug Enforcement Administration, encourages the public to help prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding their homes of potentially dangerous prescription drugs. 

Community members can bring expired, unused or unwanted medications for disposal to the university. This service is free and anonymous. 

In April 2012, Americans across the nation turned in 371 tons (over 742,000 pounds) of prescription drugs at over 5,800 sites operated by the DEA and its thousands of state and local law enforcement partners.

In its six previous Take Back events, DEA and its partners took in over 2.8 million pounds—more than 1,400 tons—of pills.

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, as are the number of accidental poisonings and overdoses due to these drugs.

 Studies show that a majority of abused prescription drugs are obtained from family and friends, including from the home medicine cabinet.

 In addition, Americans are now advised that their usual methods for disposing of unused medicines—flushing them down the toilet or throwing them in the trash—both pose potential safety and health hazards.
 
DEA is in the process of approving new regulations that implement the Safe and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which amends the Controlled Substances Act to allow an “ultimate user” (that is, a patient or pet or their family member or owner) of controlled substance medications to dispose of them by delivering them to entities authorized by the Attorney General to accept them.

 The Act also allows the Attorney General to authorize long term care facilities to dispose of their residents’ controlled substances in certain instances.

For more information on the nationwide event or additional drop-off sites in the area, click here.  

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