On Friday, April 23, OSF HealthCare Holy Family Medical Center, Warren County Health Department, Monmouth Police Department, Save A Lot Food Stores and Bridgeway Prevention Service will be hosting a “National Drug Take Back Day.” The event will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Save A Lot Grocery parking lot. We ask that people place their unwanted pills in zipper top bags. Collection of the medications takes place outside so you don’t even need to get out of your car to dispose of the medications. We will not be able to collect inhalers, patches, liquid meds or needles.
The Warren County Health Department, Monmouth PD and OSF Holy Family have a drop-off box for unwanted medicines at their respective locations where medications can be disposed of daily. The agencies ask that all pills be removed from their bottles and placed in zipper top bags for disposal.
This National Drug Take Back Day was launched by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) as a way to reduce the amount of expired or unwanted prescription drugs in our homes. These same drugs unfortunately have become the target of theft and misuse, often by people who have access to the residence. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)12-17 year olds have made prescription drugs the No. 1 substance of abuse for their age group and much of that supply is coming from the medicine cabinets of their parents, grandparents and friends.
Unused medications in homes create a public health and safety concern because they can be accidentally ingested, stolen, misused and abused. According to the CDC, approximately 81,000 Americans died in 2020 from overdoses of prescription medications. To put those overdose deaths in perspective, more Americans died of overdoses in 2020 than died in almost 20 years of the Vietnam War (58,220 deaths).
The public’s enormous response to DEA’s 18 prior National Drug Take Back Days demonstrates the need for a way to prevent pill abuse and theft by ridding homes of potentially dangerous prescription drugs. Last April, Americans turned in over 900,000 pounds (450 tons) of prescription drugs. Overall, in its 18 previous Take Back events, the DEA and its partners have taken in over 13,684,848 pounds — more than 6,842 tons — of pills.
Please join us in making Warren County a healthier and safer place to live by disposing of your unwanted medications from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Friday, April 23 at the drive up National Drug Take Back Day at Save A Lot in Monmouth.
