JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Is your medicine cabinet packed with old prescriptions or pills you no longer use or recognize? There’s a safe and simple way to get rid of them.
Several organizations, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and Florida Poison Control are teaming up with the Jacksonville Police Department for Prescription Drug Take Back Day, happening on Saturday, April 26th. It’s a chance to safely and easily get rid of unused medications and learn more about how to prevent prescription drug misuse.
Mike McCormick from Florida Poison Control spoke with Jacksonville’s Morning News about the importance of this event.
“It’s very easy to take the wrong medication and so that is one of the emphases behind the drug takeback. We want to remove that risk from the house, so that you don’t accidentally grab the wrong medicine. Sometimes our labels even start to disintegrate and so you’ll lose the dosage you’re supposed to take.”
Young individuals, particularly teenagers, are increasingly finding ways to access medications, so safely disposing of unused prescriptions is an important step in preventing potential abuse and addiction.
“Teenagers that we worry about again, one of them is kind of a destigmatization of the over-the-counter, that because it’s not prescribed it’s not that dangerous and anything within medication needs to be taken with the medical guidance. We’re also seeing among teenagers is stronger injuries especially in sports. So, we are seeing heavy prescription medicine go out,” said McCormick.
McCormick says the day is meant for people to take action and remove danger from their homes.
Whether it’s prescription or over-the-counter, you can bag up any medications you want to get rid of and drop them off at a designated site, where law enforcement will collect and safely dispose of them, no questions asked.
Click here for details and drop-off locations.
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