Thursday, March 29, 2012YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- Humility of Mary Health Partners is participating in National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day April 28. Unused prescription medications will be collected from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. April 28 at St. Elizabeth Health Center here and St. Joseph Health Center in Warren.
Unused and expired prescription drugs can be dropped off at drive-through collection sites on the Belmont Avenue ramp at St. Elizabeth and at the main entrance at St. Joseph. Participation is free and anonymous -- no questions asked, said Robert Martin, who is is organizing HMHP’s drug take-back program. Martin is an officer with the HMHP police department.
The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) introduced Drug Take-Back Day in 2009 in an effort to keep potentially dangerous prescription drugs from being misused or disposed of improperly.
Abuse of prescription medications is alarmingly high in the United States, as is the rate of accidental poisonings and overdoses, Martin noted, adding that the source of most of these accidental poisonings and overdoses isunused prescription medications. In addition, improper disposal of these medications -- flushing them down the drain or sending them to a landfill -- poses hazards to the environment.
Those taking part in the DEA’s prescription drug take-back program last fall collectively turned in more than 377,086 pounds -- more than 188 tons -- of unwanted and expired medications at 5,327 take-back locations throughout the United States.
Medications to be dropped off need not be in original containers. If medication is disposed of in its original container, identifying information should be removed. Liquid medications, intravenous solutions, injectible drugs and syringes will not be accepted.
Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.